The Secret Orphan

A historical novel full of secrets

By: Glynis Peters

Narrated by: Anna Cordell

Keep her secret

Keep her safe

On the 14th November 1940, Hitler’s bombs rain down on Coventry. From the rubble of a bombed-out family home, a young girl is saved…

This is a stunning and memorable page-turner of love, loss and resilience for fans of The Secret Wife by Gill Paul

As the Nazis’ relentless bombs fall during the Blitz of Coventry, six-year-old Rose Sherbourne finds herself orphaned and under the guardianship of a Cornish farmer's daughter, Elenor Cardew.

Elenor knows that the only way to protect spirited Rose is to leave the city and make a new life for themselves away from harm. But soon Elenor discovers that Hitler’s firestorm is not the only thing she must fear when she learns a devastating secret about Rose…

With Rose’s life in imminent danger, Elenor turns to the only person she can trust to keep the deadly secret, heroic Canadian pilot, Jackson St John. And amidst the destruction of war, an unlikely romance blossoms as they find a way to protect the child they have both grown to love…and each other.

©2019 Glynis Peters (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Great story

Until you get to the very end this was a great story and it seemed like the author just wanted to end it. She could’ve taken another chapter to fully develop the ending

Phenomenal story line!

Loved it! A storyline that keeps you wanting more! My heart broke for Rose when she lost both parents and everything she ever knew.

Abrupt ending

I found it started off slowly, but got better. I really enjoyed it, but the ending was disappointing. The beginning was from Rose’s viewpoint and then switched to Elenor.

The ending was abrupt, almost like the author didn’t want to finish it. A brief epilogue (from Rose’s perspective) would’ve made all the difference.

I would give the author another try, because I did like the story.

I appreciated that there were no detailed love scenes and minimal cursing.

Loved characters, but a bit slow

I love WWII historical fiction, but this was not intoxicating, as others can be. The sidelines outside of a concentration camp can be equally as gripping as the victims encamped. In this case I kept waiting and waiting on the pull of drama. It was a lot of ordinary life in the middle and obvious conclusions of spies. And even at the end it was a bit of a light puff of smoke. Nothing groundbreaking. This was average.

Such a sweet story

I loved this book so much that I read it again just now, a few weeks after the first time I read it.

Touching, charming, intense

This is an excellent book. The historical value was good. The surprise ending was great!

Love, Protection, and War

This is a well illustrated story depicting the depth of love and the extent one will go to survive during war times. There is a thread of a mystery that runs through the story line to keep the reader enthralled and unable to put the novel down.

Very enjoyable read!

This is best enjoyed if you DO NOT read the story description before listening. The foretold plot doesn’t happen until the end. I was 8 hours in to a ten hour book and realized the plot hadn’t happened yet. I don’t believe this is the fault of the author but of whoever wrote the book description, surely someone else. Otherwise very satisfying story!

Slow in parts and a mad dash at the end

I enjoyed this book and the narration was wonderful. My only issues were that some of the story really plodded along, and some of the characters and plot lines seemed unnecessary. When you arrive in the last few chapters it seems like the ending is very rushed. The story is pulled together as though the author was given 30 minutes to wrap everything up. Saying that I still enjoyed the book and the war time setting very interesting. The main characters were very likable.

Odd Start and Rushed Finish

The book started off in the present, like many other historical fiction books, but then they never come back to it, making it odd to include it at all. Then the story started painfully slow, became quite enjoyable, and then extremely rushed to an odd ending. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the story. But the ending was unsatisfying after getting so invested in all of the characters.