The Girl in the Letter

So many twists and turns. I feel like I need a flow chart on how people are connected. It all becomes clear. Its a town with troubled past. They had a home for mother's until the 70s. The nuns took the moms in and adopted out the kids. The home with many dark secrets is about to be demolished and a reporter finds letters her deceased grandpa had that were written by one of the young women sent there. She sets out to solve the mystery and same time there are others wanting the secrets to stay burried.

So much pain and suffering and people turning a blind eye using the umbrella of religion to hide under.

A truly heartbreaking story of real atrocities committed against innocent young women and children. Fiction, yes, but based on facts. How unmarried pregnant women were treated in Ireland and the UK, and most often by the Catholic Church!, is just too horrific to comprehend. And how their misery seeped into their families’ present and future is perfectly understandable. I don’t think that I will ever forget this book. It’s a story that will always be a part of me. It’s a story that needed telling—you will want to read this.

***MY OVERALL RATING IS 3.5. This review is based on my experience of having read the ENTIRE book. I found the story to be engaging and interesting enough that I felt compelled to continue reading (thus a 3-star rating). Early on I did take some notes on the characters to help me keep everyone straight (this helped somewhat). As most reviews mention there are NUMEROUS INCONSISTENCIES in the story but rather than get frustrated I felt more committed to the book because I was convinced that when the story ended the loose ends would tie up and provide some satisfaction and closure to the reader. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN!!

MY HONEST SUGGESTION FOR READERS: If you can read the book and take the story as it comes (without analyzing every character and asking a lot of questions) then this book will entertain you. But if you are a reader who really spends time thinking about what you are reading then this book will only frustrate and irritate you.......try something else!!

Just in case the author or future editor needs some suggestions here are a few:

1. Early in the story Sam gives Nana a bracelet with the letters SAE on it. I knew the S and E were for Sam and Emma. At that point in the story the only A was Alistair (which was introduced to the readers early on through Ivy's letters.....the name Alistair did not appear in the letters for Sam until later). I thought Alistair was the deceased Granddad because there was an emphasis on him finding the letter in the antique furniture so I thought he was Alistair. Later when Sam finally reads a letter with the name Alistair in it and does not respond in shock I realize I am wrong. But I did not realize until nearly the end of the book that the A was for Anabelle (Nana's real name).

2. Ivy was Alistair's girlfriend......but later in the story how can Kitty ALSO be Alistair's girlfriend? Kitty is at least 10 years younger than Ivy which would make her a 12 year old girlfriend for a 22 year old Alistair. In this situation I honestly thought there was some "secret" that would be revealed at the end of the story to explain this.

3. I don't understand how Kitty leaped from being the daughter of a policeman to a nationally recognized television show hostess (who parents were both deceased). Her father should have had a career in show business to allow for this career to be more believable.

4. As the bus drives by the fields of St. Margaret's there is mention of the pregnant girls digging in the fields and "what are they digging?" Was this suppose to be the tunnels?? But Ivy never mentions anything about digging........

5. What happened to Fred? Why did he leave?

6. What happened with Ben?