The Orphan Daughter (Reckoner's Row #1) by Sheila Riley

☆☆☆☆
Kindle Edition, 346 pages
Published September 5th 2019 by Boldwood Books
About the Book:
Winter, Liverpool 1947. Evie Kilgaren is a fighter. Abandoned by her mother and with her father long gone, she is left to raise her siblings in dockside Liverpool, as they battle against the coldest winter on record. But she is determined to make a life for herself and create a happy home for what's left of her family. Desperate for work, Evie takes a job at the Tram Tavern under the kindly watch of pub landlady, and pillar of the community, Connie Sharp. But Connie has problems of her own when her quiet life of spinsterhood is upturned with the arrival of a mysterious undercover detective from out of town. When melting ice reveals a body in the canal, things take a turn for the worst for the residents of Reckoner's Row. Who could be responsible for such a brutal attack? And can Evie keep her family safe before they strike again?

A book about the lengths a sister will go to to help and protect her siblings after the second world war. The Orphan Daughter was an emotional and memorable book, I found the writing inspiring and filled with powerful sentiment. I was one hundred percent invested in the story being told. I was initially drawn to the book because the tragic story of Evie and all of Liverpool after The Blitz.

There are a lot of books that cover this topic, yet I found this one to be particularly well written. The writing is evocative and emotional and nearly poetic, but also heartbreaking, giving the topic. The story-line is complex enough to hold attention. The author does a superior job conveying both what people do and why. There was a definite feeling of immersing in the story for me.

The story of the family's seven year separation is of course a sad one, and I felt such an emotional connection with the characters. I do wish that the author had told us more of the other two sibling's story, in Ireland, but really the focus was almost entirely on Evie and Connie's. This is a shame, as Jack and Lucy's story would have brought an interesting extra dimension and added a more unusual setting to the book. Maybe we will learn more about them in book two, I will definitely be reading it.

Thank you NetGalley, Sheila Riley and Boldwood Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

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