Book Review, A Liverpool Lass

November 4, 2007 – 1:00 pm

A Liverpool Lass
Katie Flynn
isbn: 0-09-942999-3

Any fan of Katie Flynn’s work will know what to expect from this
book.
It has many of the usual ingredients of the typical family saga;
poverty,
wealthy benefactor, cruel landlord, illegitimate child and a mystery to
be
solved.
This one begins in Liverpool in late 1905 when a new-born baby girl is
left
in the doorstep of the Culler Orphanage Asylum. The description of the
young woman who deposits her babe into the care of the Culler leads the
reader to take her for a poor girl who is unable to look after her
offspring
– her soggy shawl her only protection against the driving rain, her
boots
much too big…………. The baby, however, is wrapped in a good
quality,
thick shawl. This detail later implies to the foundling child that
she may
not be from such humble stock, and she sets off on *The quest* to find
her
birth mother.
Before that we go through a lot of trial and tribulation, of course.
Nellie, the maid who is present when the baby is found, promptly forms
a
real bond with the child and effectively adopts her as her own sister.
Nellie, sent to the Culler when her parents died, had become a real
maid of
all work, appreciated by the orphanage staff. She was instrumental in
the
naming of the foundling child, known as Lilac Larkin, and was able to
ease
Lilac’s years at the Culler to some extent.

We go on to learn about Nellie’s first love, and see Lilac introduced
to
Nellie’s remaining family. Life changes for both of the girls, as
the
Great War looms, Nellie goes into nursing, and Lilac begins to
experience
life away from the Culler.

The tale moves onto Flanders, bringing more loves and losses for the
girls
before tying up most of the loose ends in 1920.

In all, an easy going, fairly light read with its fair share of
coincidence
and some realism. Not too many unanswered questions by the time we get
to
the end, though I did find a couple of the storylines that could easily
have
spawned a spin-off novel.

by Jacky