The Orphanage (Shilling Grange Children’s Home #1)

Clara is the new housemother of Shilling Grange Children’s home in Lavenham. Twenty-four hours after she arrived, she tried to leave believing that she wasn’t cut out for the job. Missing her train, she returns but gives her notice. While working her notice she decides she can do so much and she really started bonding with the children and wants what is best for them. Throughout the book she always standing up for the children, more like a real mother than a housemother, she really does her best for all of them. Even when it means she might lose her job because of it!
I really enjoyed reading The Orphanage, I liked Clara a lot and she is what I think everyone would have lived as a housemother back in the day rather than what most children were given and went through.
I liked how each child’s character was so different and they all shined in their own way.
One character I didn’t like from the start was Julian, the vibes he gave off were that he was a quite horrible person. I didn’t like his character at all. Halfway through the book, I was still feeling the same way. Then he did something that was absolutely shocking and I was right in my assumptions of him!
The book was well written and really well detailed with the picturesque countryside and village.
As I have lived in Suffolk all of my life and my parents lived in Lavenham and I have spent a lot of time there so this instantly piqued my interest. I do know Shilling Grange and have heard of Jane Taylor and the famous Swan hotel it also mentioned other places in Suffolk with which I am familiar.
So this was a fantastic read for me, and Lizzie Page did a great job with the descriptions and little bits of history added to it.