This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

"A heartbreaking letter. A girl locked away. A mystery to be solved.

1956. When Ivy Jenkins falls pregnant she is sent in disgrace to St Margaret's, a dark, brooding house for unmarried mothers. Her baby is adopted against her will. Ivy will never leave."

This book was ok, but the subject matter in the current climate was a little hard to stomach.

This was a really good read, so much of it heart wrenching. Read this at a time when the the people of Ireland were having a visit from the Pope and articles about abuse in the press. Whilst this is fictional it must be said it is a pretty good account of what went on in certain religious orders. Angels/Sisters of mercy, more like the Devils disciples.

Heart -tugging read that in my opinion will appeal to all ages. Great insight into the world how it used to be for unwed mothers facing life-changing decisions.
A great writing style, just so easy and smooth to read. I'm a big fan of shorter chapters and the way this is written pulls you in. Changing dates etc does not interrupt the flow of this novel at all.
Not sure if the author has written anything else but will certainly be checking to see! New fan here.

I was unable to access the EPub ARC copy of this book and was therefore unfortunately unable to offer a review.

A tough read, especially when you think that this was reality for so many young women. A very emotional book. Worth the effort.

This is a sad story that plays off in a sad time in our history, where tolerance was just a word in the dictionary and young girls that got pregnant were victimized by people and their judgment. Sweet and sad story.

Loved this story, couldn’t put it down ! Well written, great characters.Cant wait to read more from this author.

This was an excellent but gruelling read. I'm old enough to recall the whispers about Mother & Baby homes in the '50s and 60's. The threat of being thrown out of your home sent in disgrace to a spinster aunt or sent to such places if you were in the family way was held over our heads to ensure we behaved ourselves. I did know one girl who was quietly hustled to one centre, but it wasn't run by brutal nuns. Nonetheless, now in her 70's she has never forgiven her parents for having to give up her boyfriend and baby boy. She would never talk about her time there so I presume it was grim. It wasn't until her son was 21 that she managed to trace him. This poignant story brings back all these half-forgotten but shuddering memories. Being pregnant and unwed carried an enormous stigma back then. As society has rolled on the stigma is now attached to lighting a cigarette. Hah! Thank you to NetGalley and Headline.

I started off really intrigued by this book but then slightly lost the enjoyment. I didn't like the journalist and I feel that her ruthlessness to just get a good story put me off. I still find it so hard to believe that there were nuns and homes where people were so badly treated. A really good storyline

This was a heart wrenching horrific read that I could NOT put down and left me an emotional wreak. I was totally gripped and didn't want it to end.

I didn't love The Girl in the Letter. I tried to get into it, but I just couldn't. I felt like the characters could've been more developed.

This was an amazing, chilling, heartfelt read. I loved the story and how the main character discovers the little secrets hidden between its pages. It was a dark story and it was really interesting to read about the real truth on the Magdalene Laundries after that. Cannot wait to see what Emily writes about next!

I had high hopes for this book but ended up being a little disappointed. This is the author’s debut, and you can tell. It is a tale about the abuses handed out in a Catholic church-run mother and baby home in the UK.

The story runs on two timelines. The account of Ivy who was sent to St Margaret's in the 50’s, and the present day (2017) where Sam, a young and inexperienced journalist starts investigating St Margarets after finding a letter written by Ivy whilst she was there. There is also the account of Kitty, an ageing TV personality and it is unclear at the start how she is involved.

As the story progresses we see the deaths, from the third person limited point of view of the victims themselves all of whom connected with St Margaret’s.

My major problem with this book is the constant flitting between different characters and it becomes a little annoying and distracting, even at one point in the middle of a paragraph. So much so that we see little of the protagonist herself in the events leading up to the climax when she should have been at the forefront. Subsequently, all of the characters never feel well rounded enough as there has not been enough time spent with them. They are fairly credible but I felt they were all two dimensional. This book could have been so much more if the characters were given the chance to have their back-story’s more developed somehow. Also, the true hero who’s POV is used for the climax is hardly mentioned in the first half of the book.

To Sum it all up. A good story which I felt was a bit lacking in execution but it was a good yarn nonetheless.

I wasn’t initially sure about this book, the description looked good but at the beginning I wondered whether to continue....thankfully I did! An amazing story about an orphanage and families affected and the current day. Really enjoyed it!

Had me at the first chapter!
What an amazing book. Absolutely loved every bit of it- even the parts I had to read with clenched teeth.
This book is an emotional page-turner. Beautifully written, engaging and at times heart-warming.
The book flowed easily with short chapters and seamless jumps through time as we unravel a mystery and the horror that takes place in an Irish mother-baby home.
Many of the horrible atrocities that took place during this time to these poor women have been well documented and this book does their story justice.
Cannot wait to read more from Emily Gunnis.

Thanks to Netgalley the author and publishers for a copy of this book. An investigation into a mother and baby home in Sussex throws up storylines which a young journalist decides to follow. Heart wrenching and quite sad in places, a little unbelievable but not a bad read.

This story will stay with me for a long time, a very moving, heartfelt tale of a brutal place known as St Margarets where unmarried young pregnant girls were sent in disgrace to have their babies and then have them brutely ripped away from them. The story jumps from past to present and introduces us to Sam who accidentally comes across some harrowing letters sent from a mysterious girl called Ivy who goes into great detail about the pain and abuse she and many others are experiencing at the hands of the nuns at St Margarets, Sam becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about what happened to Ivy and also stumbles across some of her family's darkest secrets. A fantastically good read!

Not at all what I expected. When I started this book I expected a typical sad story of teenage pregnancy in the 60s but in fact the book became a mystery novel that kept me hooked to the end. I read this book within 48 hours. I couldn't put it down. Just great.

The book was fascinating but at times I found it hard to read. Very sad and I find it upsetting that people can treat others so badly. Knowing that these types of places actually existed is hard to fathom but they did. Tragic but a compelling read.