Boon's Bookcase

Christmas Child

by

Carol Rivers

BLOG TOUR
&
GIVEAWAY

I am thrilled to be kicking off the Blog Tour for Christmas Child by Carol Rivers. As many of you know, I am a saga lover and Carol is one of my favourite authors and has become a real pal to me, especially recently, offering love and support at a very difficult time.

You can read my review of this fabulous novel below, which I feel, could be read at any time of the year, it's not just for Christmas!

Christmas Child
The 2019 Victorian romance from the Sunday Times bestselling author.
A perfect Dickensian saga for Christmas.
Christmas Day, London 1880. Snow falls … a dying Irish girl clutching her new-born baby drags herself to the sanctuary of an East End orphanage and throws herself on the mercy of the Sisters of Clemency. The nuns raise little Ettie O’Reilly as their own, but the lives of the nuns and orphans are soon crushed by an unscrupulous bishop. The heart-breaking outcome turns Ettie’s life upside down and Christmas will never mean the same again.
Will Ettie ever find her friend Michael Wilson whose secret holds the key to their past? Will Ettie keep her innocence and survive the traumatic events that are about to erupt?

Review

Colleen O'Reilly will do anything she can to make sure her baby survives, so when she goes into labour on Christmas Eve, she heads to where she knows her baby will be brought up and looked after when she's gone, the convent.

After giving birth, Colleen passes away and the baby is found outside a convent. She is taken under the wing of Sister Patrick and the other nuns there and is fed and nurtured and leads a very happy and contented life until she is 14 and the Bishop orders the convent to be closed down.

Ettie is distraught at having to leave her beloved home and the people she has grown to love, not least Michael, another foundling who she has grown very fond of.

Ettie is sent to a grocers shop, but after a while she is told she is to be sent to be a nurse maid to a couple by the name of Lucas and Clara Benjamin who own the local tobacconist establishment.

Lucas is beside himself with worry over his wife's strange behaviour and when he finds out she is opium dependent, he decides to take her to France to cure her of her demons and leaves Ettie in charge of the tobacconists at Ettie's request.

For a woman to run such an establishment in those days was almost unheard of, so when she is left to her own devices, it doesn't take long before the local villains and swindlers find out that a young woman running such a business on her own is easy picking.

Meanwhile, Terence the local butcher sees Ettie as the daughter he never had and keeps a watchful eye over her. 

Circumstances force Ettie to leave the tobacconists and rather than ask Terence for help, she becomes homeless and jobless. Therefore, the only place for Ettie to go is the workhouse.

After spending several months in the workhouse and living in fear of the Governor, Ettie finds a new position for a while, but this is also short lived and she ends up on the streets for a second time. 

The streets of London are no place for a young woman to be on her own and Ettie faces danger at every turn. Will she be safe enough to turn her life around? or will she end her life the same way as her mother did? and will she ever see Michael again?

This is another fabulously written and thoroughly researched novel by this author and one that I would totally recommend to any saga lover. If you haven't read any of Carol Rivers' novels yet, I would thoroughly recommend them, you will not be disappointed.

Thank you to the wonderful Carol Rivers for her kind love and support and also to Rachel at Rachel's Random Resources for allowing me to kick off this fabulous blog tour.

About the Author

Author Bio – “Were there’s muck there’s money!” If my family had a royal crest I’m sure those are the words that would have been hewn into the stone above it.

Mum and Dad were both East Enders who were born on the famous or should I say the then infamous Isle of Dogs. They were costermongers selling fruit, veg and anything else that would stand still long enough!

Their family were immigrants who travelled to the UK from Ireland and France, while others emigrated to America.

As a child I would listen to the adults spinning their colourful stories, as my cousins and I drank pop under the table.

I know the seeds of all my stories come from those far off times that feel like only yesterday. So I would like to say a big heartfelt thank you to all my family and ancestors wherever you are now … UK, Ireland, France or America, as you’ve handed down to me the magic and love of story telling.

Carol xx

Social Media Links –  http://www.carolrivers.com

https://www.facebook.com/carol.rivers1/

https://twitter.com/carol_rivers

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/carolriversagas/boards/

http://www.instagram.com/carol_rivers01

Purchase Links  UK  -  https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07VFQ56MQ/ US -  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VFQ56MQ/

Giveaway

One winner will win the following signed books

“Lizzie Flowers and the Family Firm”

“Molly’s Christmas Orphans”

“A Wartime Christmas”

“A Sister’s Shame”

“Eve of the Isle”

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will be passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway