This book isn't my usual type but I was intrigued by the premise and I wasn't disappointed by this gripping heartbreaker of a novel.

When journalist Sam Harper finds a letter from pregnant Ivy Jenkins dated from 1956 she ends up in a race against time to find out what happened to her and her baby in St Margarets Mother and Baby Home before it's demolished. But how is famous talk show host Kitty and Sam's nana Annabel connected and is there a killer on the loose?

Although I guessed the plot twists fairly early on, I was so gripped by the stories of Sam, Ivy, Kitty and Elvira. Part of the emotional connection came from the knowledge that much of what happened in the fictional mother and baby home happened in real mother and baby homes not even fifty years ago. It was so painful to read how these women and children were treated and the mental and physical abuse they suffered.

The book was well paced, piecing together the diffferent plot strands from Sam, Kitty, Ivy and several other points of view. Although there was a bit of repetition I was utterly enthralled and really couldn't put this one down.

A good one to curl up with this autumn.

On a side note, I loved Sam's rock climbing journalist friend Fred - as I rock climb and loved the odd reference to this!

For me it doesn’t happen often but Emily Gunnis has certainly moved me with this book - it brought tears to my eyes. A fantastic first novel.

Thanks Netgalley and the Publisher. This was a gripping, haunting and heart breaking read. I feel quite lost for words and slightly incapable of forming any kind of coherent sentence, nor do I have a clue as to how to do this novel justice

Sam Harper reads a letter detailing a young pregnant mother's life in a Mother/Baby home in the 1960s. Run by Nuns the letter describes the appalling conditions. This starts Sam on the trail of a story to discover what happened to the author, Ivy, and the other residents of the home.

There are several books with a similar content around at the moment. The unveiling of these appalling mother & baby homes in the press has lead to a flurry of fiction books which highlight what went on. Unlike many of the other books this is set around the Brighton area and not in Ireland. I didn't feel that this was the best book of this style that I have read.

There are two main problems for me with this book. The first is the way that it jumps around. To begin with we have two main threads - Sam Harper in the present day & Ivy, the writer of the letter. However, as the book pregresses many more people are included and we get frequent flash backs to tell of their past. Although I understand the need to tell the back story, I found that the way the author chose to do it left the text rather disjointed and the story failed to run as smoothly as it should.

The other major problem was the main character, Sam Harper. I didn't like her. As a reader I think I was supposed to feel sorry for her - working single Mum trying to make a career and better their life. I could see that but unfortunately my overriding feeling was that Sam Harper was a user. A man at work, Fred, is rather smitten with her but Sam seems to do nothing but ask him to "cover" for her as she races off to follow this story. Sam & her daughter are living with her Nana who seems to be constantly rearranging her life to care for Sam's child at little or no notice. Sam's estranged husband also has Emma "dumped" on him at little notice even when he was supposed to be having job interviews. Poor Emma - even when she was ill her Mother went out & chased a story in the middle of the night. It is all very well chasing a story and feeling the need to tell the world but I felt she needed to be there for Emma as well. I wanted to give her a "piece of my mind". Consequently I was rather distracted from the story the book was trying to tell & couldn't get "into" it.

It is a shame that I struggled with the character. The book certainly had some potential but it is hard to focus on the story when the main character is someone I don't like or care about.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

The harrowing theme of this book was already tearing at the emotional strings, but could Gunnis successfully transport me to that unforgiving environment and also provide a modern-day mystery that just has to be solved? Despite my niggling thoughts that the modern-day characters were just a little too conveniently linked with those in the past, the author did just that. The story surrounding the incarcerated girls would have been interesting enough but, add to it, the twists as the mystery unfolds, and you have a thoroughly gripping read.

I shall definitely recommend this and look forward to reading other books by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline Publishing Group for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

There’s something about novels featuring letters that always intrigued me. I loved the mystery in this and trying to unravel it. Thanks for the ARC.

In 1956 Ivy became pregnant. Her family were horrified, but the parish priest came to save the day & take Ivy to an unmarried mother's home. If her family was prepared to pay she could return home after the birth, if they couldn't (or wouldn't!) the poor girl could work there for three years to pay off her 'debt' Devastated that her boyfriend seems to have forgotten her, Ivy writes numerous letters begging for help.

In the present day Samantha is a struggling journalist who has recently split from her husband & with the help of her grandmother is bringing up her small daughter. When her grandmother finds some letters among some of the things collected by her late antique sealer husband Samantha's journalistic instincts sniff a story.

There has been a lot of publicity about the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, but they weren't the only place where such atrocities occurred- they were scattered all over the UK as well. It is a frightening thought that this sort of thing went on right into the 70's.

This is a heart breaking story that is difficult to forget. The different strands of the story that seems to be unconnected weave into a tale that left me satisfied with a story well told.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this five star book.

Anne Carter's #RandomThingsTours on Twitter put The Girl in the Letter on my TBR list. I saw so many positive reviews about the book, I just had to get my hands on a copy. Thanks to #Netgalley for making that possible.

I must also admit that it is a book I wish I had written! I too have researched the horrendous history the Catholic church had with single mothers, and have a half-written book which looks at the impact that being forced to relinquish your child had on generations of women. Emily Gunnis did an amazing job at creating a story around these horrors, and really depicted the terror and control that the church had on young women and girls throughout most of the 1900s.

I loved this book. I tore through it, found it compelling and I cared about the characters. I really liked how it was structured, and how we were given a view of the story from so many different aspects.

I admired the way Emily Gunnis highlighted the fact that it was not just the nuns who were to blame - they were the face of the mother-and-baby homes, but they were supported by doctors, adoption officials, psychiatrists in in some cases in Ireland, the unwanted / unadoptable children were used by pharmaceutical companies for medical trials. I feel so mad and heart-broken when I think about it all.

While the subject matter is tragic, the novel manages to avoid making the reader feel depressed. There is a mystery at the heart of the book; who is the girl in the letter? Why have so many of the people involved with the running of St. Margaret's mother-and-baby home in Sussex died so young? Will journalist Samantha Harper find the answers to these questions?

It's one I would definitely recommend. I think it would be enjoyed by readers who are fans of Lucinda Riley. I will certainly be on the look out for Emily's next book, and even hope that I might get on the next blog tour, so I can be among the first to read it!

When Journalist Sam stumbles upon some letters her Nana was reading, Sam makes it her mission to find out about the woman who wrote them and why.

Sam embarks on a jputlrbey that takes her to St Margaret’s a home for unmarried mothers that is about to be torn down and made into luxury housing. Sam discocers that Kitty Cannon a household TV name was born there and goes to interview her, Kitty tells her she also had a twin named Elvira who died while at St Margaret’s but there is no trace of her body on file.

A harrowing read which will have you turning the pages late into the night.

4.5 Mesmerizing Stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟.5

This was such a heart wrenching captivating story very reminiscent of “before We Were Yours”; One of my top reads of 2017... i’m not a big fan of comparing books, but in this case it is almost impossible not to... from the duel timelines to the horrific treatment of children steeped in history... if you enjoyed BWWY you will absolutely be entranced by this book as well....

There are so many layers to the story... so many well-developed multi dimensional characters, but one character really stood out to me... Ivy in my opinion was the true hero of this book... her letters really tour at my heartstrings... whisked away from her family to a home for unmarried women.... where she was treated horribly and made to give up her baby.... through all of this she maintained her humanity and her compassion.... and in her darkest of moments her thoughts were not of her self but of another... truly isn’t this The definition of a mother? Well apparently in the 50s and 60s being unmarried trumped unconditional love.... so many parts of this portion of the story were frustrating and sad.... and truly the saddest part of all is it is part of our history.... yes this Book took place in the UK, but we would be remiss to think it did not happen in the US as well....

Where the past timeline of the story was steeped in history the present day timeline was steeped in mystery... Samantha a struggling reporter, finds one of Ivy‘s letters clutched in her grandma‘s hand when she comes across her napping in the rocking chair... curious by nature Samantha doesn’t buy her grandma’s story... so why does Samantha’s grandmother have this letter? and what happens to the girl in the letter? You will need to read this book to find out the mystery and the real story behind these letters.... I guarantee you will be as enthralled as I was... as more and more secrets of the past are revealed I was more and more invested in this story...

Absolutely recommend to fans of a book with a well researched dose of history and a well developed mystery...

*** many thanks to Headline for my copy of this book ***

2017: Sam Harper is a journalist trying desperately to make her career a success. With a five-year-old at home and relationship with boyfriend Ben going down the drain, Sam’s life runs to a fast, stressful rhythm. After a small triumph at work, she returns home to celebrate her nana’s birthday and finds she and daughter Emma fast asleep on the sofa, an old letter curled up next to her. Driven by curiosity, Sam reads it and discovers the heartbreaking story of a young girl called Ivy tracing back through the years.







2017: Kitty Cannon is a famous talk show host who is admired and applauded over by hundreds, including celebrities, producers, journalists, sports personalities, the crème de la crème. For decades she has interviewed, complimented, cajoled guests and mined stories for the truth. Now her career is drawing to an end. When she announces her retirement, Kitty celebrates her career with a grand party, where friends and colleagues gather together. But her retirement is the only way of leaving with her dignity, before a younger, newer host is brought in to replace her. But soon, the studio and the glamour of her career will be the last thing on her mind. The darkness in Kitty’s past is hurtling towards her and memories of her family prove impossible to run away from.







1956: when eighteen-year-old Ivy Jenkins discovers she is pregnant, she is sent to St. Margaret’s Home for mothers and babies. Forced to remain in the care of the cold, cruel Sisters for three years to pay for her keep, Ivy is put to work in the laundry room, where she and the other girls must remain silent all day, despite their discomfort. Overcome with desperation, she finds a way of sending letters to the father of her child. But despite her pleas for help, for love, for comfort, the letters go unanswered. After Ivy gives birth, her baby is taken away and she is left broken under the weight of her loss.







The three women’s stories begin to converge in surprising ways. They are all connected, their fates tangled together. Emily Gunnis depicts Ivy’s loss, loneliness and desperation with startling depth. The brutality and cruelty in these pages is very emotional, so much so I found myself hoping desperately for a happy ending. Emily Gunnis delivers an emotional, evocative novel that drew me in instantly.







Emotional. Evocative. Poignant.

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. Like many people I was aware of places like the Magdalene Laundries and the stories attached to them. I have a vague memory of a similar establishment in the town I grew up in. Hopefully it was nothing like St Margaret’s.
The Girl in the Letter is a heartbreaking fictionalised account of two girls who spent time there in the 1950s. One is Ivy, whose child was taken away from her and the other is Elvira, a child who was returned when an adoption went wrong. Ivy tries her best to look after Elvira. After finding letters from Ivy years later, Sam who is a journalist wants to know more.
The novel goes back and forth in time between 1956 and 2017. Part of Ivy’s tale is told by letters, it is hers that Sam has read. But there are also flashbacks to those connected to the events that happened. The priest, nuns (it’s easy to see why so many people fear them), the doctors, social workers and the girls themselves. What the girls, some as young as fifteen were put through was horrific, the cruelty shown by those who could have done better was devastating.
At times it was difficult to read, seeing the heartbreak of the young mothers had their children taken away for a ‘better life’. Sadly not many did.
Some of the accounts from those connected did show remorse but not enough. Some only thought about how they would look if they were found out. I did work out the connection between the 1950s and 2017, I don’t think it was a secret but I found it fascinating how close-knit it was. I ached for some happiness, and the relationship between Nana, Sam and Emma provided some. It showed how a family could be without interference from others. It also showed how many lives were ruined due to those who feel the need to judge.
Even though this is fiction the reader is aware that these events and worse did happen. It made me wonder if those who were responsible did show remorse and how many lives were ruined because of their actions.
A novel that is full of bitterness, fear and regret but also one that gave hope for better understanding and a willingness to talk and show love.

The subject of this book was definitely heart-wrenching and horrifying because we know there is a great deal of truth of what happened to unmarried mothers and their babies in times past; how young women were punished and hidden away. Unfortunately with the movement from past to present I felt there was some confusion and I found the dialogue between Sam and her Nana a little disjointed which detracted from the story for me.
I think the story was trying to verge into the realms of a ghost story and this also didn't work for me. I found the change of tack towards the end confusing and unrealistic where Emma became involved and the final scenes were repetitive of what we had read before.
I know I am in the minority but this book didn't quite hit the spot for me.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Emily Gunnis/Headline for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Goodreads rating 4.5*

Oh my. What to say about this book. When I first saw the description it was one that absolutely appealed to me. Dual time, historical fiction – just the sort of book I love. What I wasn’t expecting was such an emotional, harrowing and dark read, bordering on the thriller genre.

The story begins with a prologue in 1959 and a letter from Ivy Jenkins addressed to someone called Elvira. This is the first of many heart-breaking letters that we see from Ivy. Ivy’s backstory is gradually revealed but it appears that she has been incarcerated since 1956 in St Margaret’s Mother and Baby Home in Sussex, simply for the ‘crime’ of falling pregnant and being unmarried. Because her family were unable/unwilling to pay the required fee, Ivy has been forced to remain at the home to pay off the debt.

It is 2017 and Samantha Harper, a young journalist, is desperate for a break and feels overlooked by her boss at the local newspaper. Separated from her husband, she lives with her Nana and 4 year old daughter Emma. Samantha comes into the possession of some letters and intrigued, she wants to find out more. It becomes clear that there is a mystery of suspicious deaths involving the Home and if Sam wants to delve deeper, she is up against the clock. Time is against her as St Margaret’s is due for demolition in a few days.

Emily Gunnis does not pull any punches here over the cruelty and brutality of these homes. Run by nuns, wouldn’t you naturally expect them to be kind and compassionate? Forget it. Most of the nuns at St Margaret’s are cruel and sadistic without a shred of humanity or compassion in them. Having read about the horrific treatment of women and children in the Magdalen laundries in Ireland, this wasn’t a totally unexpected revelation but I didn’t realise that the UK had its share of these brutal homes too. In the author’s notes at the back, she refers to a convent in Essex, my home county, being run like a ‘Victorian workhouse” where mothers were forced to give up their babies.

Of course, the nuns wouldn’t have been able to continue with their vile practices without the collusion of others. The families may possibly have been deceived as to the reality of sending their daughters to such places but doctors, priests, adoption agencies and the like knew exactly what kind of hellhole these girls were going to and many did very well financially from the arrangement. Nobody in a position of authority comes out well in this story and although some may be more culpable than others, they all have questions to answer. A book rarely makes me angry but this one did and fair play to the author for invoking that reaction.

The Girl in the Letter is a stunning debut from Emily Gunnis. It has clearly been well researched and factual and historic knowledge has been woven seamlessly into a fictional story, with each chapter ending with an intriguing hook. The threads of the story go back and forth in time and involve various characters over a timeline of 60 years and although, like me, you may initially wonder how a particular character fits in to the story, they are pulled together to a dramatic conclusion. What I particularly liked is the way that Ivy’s story is mainly told by way of her letters. Ivy is a very engaging character that I felt much sympathy for and the helplessness of her desperate situation came across so clearly.

It’s quite difficult to define the genre of the story, and I suppose it could be described as a historical thriller/mystery with touches of the paranormal. If I were to be really very picky, the paranormal aspect (and to be fair this only appears now and again in the story) is the only part which didn’t really work for me (but then it rarely does, whatever the book). However this didn’t spoil anything and certainly didn’t stop me from being completely engrossed and wanting to shed tears for Ivy and the other young women and children like her.

It is no secret that the author is the daughter of the late Penny Vincenzi, one of my all-time favourite authors. The talented writing gene obviously runs in the family. The Girl in the Letter is a powerful and gripping read which will stir emotions and deserves to be a huge success. I loved it and do hope there is another book to come from Emily.

My thanks to Headline for providing a copy via Netgalley and to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the invite.

The Girl in the Letter is currently available to download on Amazon for just 99p – an absolute steal for a cracker of a book.

Well I can safely say this has been a truly emotional, heartbreaking and thought-provoking story.

It was the alluring and beautiful cover that made me want to read this book amd I'm so glad it did as it truly was a gripping read from start to finish.

The story plot was so cleverly and intricately woven like a maze, taking you down lots of different routes which you thought would reveal the answer but in fact turned out to be yet another deadend.

There was a lot of characters to keep track of, figuring out what their part was within the story, whether they were a victim or guilty of something. 

I didn't like the character of Mother Carlin at all, or that of the other Nuns, but then given their role within the story and the things they did, I don't think your meant to like them.

I was truly captivated and enthralled with this book and throughout reading it, I kept trying to piece everything together in my head, and figure it all out, and wondering how it would all end. Suffice to say I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried.  I loved the twist near the end as didn't see it coming.

I was totally immersed in the first part of the book, enjoyed the mystery of the various timelines and the feisty young journalist in the present day, but it all got a bit silly later on and I found myself skimming pages to get to the end. Great idea for a story but not quite my cup of tea in the telling of it.

A thoroughly gripping story unfolds after an old letter is given to Sam, a journalist, by her Nana and intrigues her enough to find out more. As further letters emerge Sam begins to make some sense of the mystery. It is not, however, as straightforward as she thinks. There are plenty of unexpected twists and turns relating to staff, mothers and children from the home for unmarried mothers. The cruelty the young mothers were subjected to is quite disturbing and clearly based on fact. The pressure ramps up as the home containing many secrets is about to be demolished. Thank you to Net Galley for an ARC.

I am fully prepared for the fact that my review may not do the book justice at all, but I aim to give it my best shot.

-falls on the floor- If I could get away with a review merely stating, ‘OutFLIPPINGstanding – EVERYONE MUST BUY!’, I totally would. In fact, I couldn’t have summed it up better in four words if I had tried. Luckily (or unluckily, depends which way you look at it), I enjoy talking and I feel that ‘The Girl in the Letter’ deserves to be in the spotlight for as long as possible, sooooo, sorry to my four words, but even I know I’m going to need to do better.

Set in 1956 when mother and baby houses were around for unmarried mothers to cleanse their souls and deal with their ‘sins’, ‘The Girl in the Letter’ tells the emotional story of a young girl called Ivy, who had her path chosen for her against her will. Her life in St Margaret’s was very, very tough. She saw things that people her age and younger should never see, let alone have to deal with. But what could she do? The nuns were set in their ways, and their punishments were very severe – whichever way she looked at it, Ivy was well and truly screwed but, as always, she couldn’t help but hope for the best.

The majority of ‘The Girl in the Letter’ is set in the present day, as we follow the life of a journalist who is struggling to find the right balance between her work life, and her life with her daughter. However, without even realising it, something had been sitting under Samantha’s nose for a very long time. With her work hat on, Sam is determined to get to the bottom of the situation without thinking of the consequences. To be perfectly honest, I couldn’t help but wonder why she should think of the consequences when she didn’t know where the path would lead. How could Sam foresee the future? She couldn’t.

I finished ‘The Girl in the Letter’ in the early hours of this morning whilst trying to put my jaw back in its rightful position. I knew that my review would take some thinking about, yet despite having all day to formulate some sort of review, I am still struggling to get my opinion out in a way that makes perfect sense. I even demanded that my mother buy this book and, seeing as she isn’t much of a reader, i have to ensure that the books I demand her to read are ones that I feel cannot be missed. And this is certainly one of them.

Whilst the contents of ‘The Girl in the Letter’ makes for quite a hard-hitting, severely intense and emotive read, the entire storyline is written absolutely beautifully and does the theme justice. Emily Gunnis does state at the end of the book that the storyline is a work of fiction, with themes inspired by real life mother and child homes in Ireland. I think that because I knew that women actually endured living in those conditions, gave birth in those conditions, as well as being told that their unborn child was a sin, it hit home a lot more because it was real. I am in still in shock that conditions like these existed and, if the laws were to be the same now here in the UK and I were to think about my current situation as a single mum, I would be in the same position as the women mentioned in this book. Isn’t that scary?

I loved how ‘The Girl in the Letter’ had a historical feel to it, as well as a thick layer of something a lot grittier as it made the suspense level far more intense than I could have ever imagined.

Emily Gunnis’ literary skill blew me away and left me dumbfounded by its beauty. What an enchanting, heart-wrenching, beautifully written and intense read this is. This book gave me everything I could have ever wanted in a storyline, and then some. I fell in love with the story almost straight away and, whilst my heart shattered multiple times throughout, I still found myself loving ‘The Girl in the Letter’ and everything it stands for.

If I were to be asked to choose just ONE book that I think everyone should buy and read urgently, ‘The Girl in the Letter’ would fall from my lips (or my fingers) before the question had even been fully asked. I genuinely cannot recommend this enough, and I truly feel that everyone would be missing out on a diamond of a read if they didn’t get their hands on a copy.

By far one of my all time favourite novels, Emily Gunnis has swooped in as a new favourite author, and one who I will now be watching very, very closely for future releases. Incredible….absolutely incredible.

Wow! The Girl in the Letter has left me rather speechless and let me tell you that doesn’t happen very often. I feel quite lost for words and slightly incapable of forming any kind of coherent sentence, nor do I have a clue as to how to do this novel justice.

In her debut novel, Emily Gunnis tackles one of the most disturbing topics in history. That of the mother and baby homes, where single expecting mothers were sent to give birth away from the disapproving eyes of relatives and neighbours. They were often forced to give their babies up for adoption with no hope of ever seeing them again.

The story starts in 1956 when young Ivy is sent to St. Margaret’s. Abandoned by her family and the boy who got her pregnant, the circumstances in which she finds herself are utterly devastating. Sixty years later, reporter Samantha stumbles upon letters written by Ivy while at the mother and baby home. Samantha senses there’s a story here that needs to be told. What happened to Ivy? Where is Ivy’s baby? What secrets and lies hide behind the walls of the home?

I don’t want to give too much away about the plot. Yes, there are a few mysteries to be solved and questions to be answered but to be honest, they all kind of melted into the background for me. This was all so realistic and believable, as history has proven it to be, that it near had me in bits. Ivy’s letters are immensely harrowing and the events she describes are incredibly disturbing. I can’t even begin to imagine the hardship of daily life at the home, the loss of a child. Not just at the home but also in later life. It’s devastating to realise that so many people got away with these atrocities.

The Girl in the Letter is a thought-provoking, moving and utterly heartbreaking novel that nearly had me in tears. It made me sad, it made me angry and it’s a novel I won’t be forgetting in a hurry. I’m not entirely sure I’ve managed to get across the impact this novel had on me but I do so hope I’ve said enough to make you want to pick this one up. This is an absolutely incredible debut novel by Emily Gunnis and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

Wow this was a stunning read! I really can’t believe this was a debut novel, the book is so well written and paced perfectly that makes it very hard to put down. I instantly felt involved in the characters lives and stories and wanted to know more about them.

This is an incredibly poignant and emotional story made even more so because it is true. The events in this book actually happened, unmarried women were treated this way and their babies were taken from that which is truly heartbreaking to read about. The mind boggles as to how these people got away with this awful treatment of so many young women and worse how their loved ones let it happen. The author has clearly done her research into these homes and doesn’t sugar coat anything for the reader, which might be a bit if a trigger for some people. J certainly found myself crying at parts. I thought, niavely, that such stuff only happened in Ireland so I was shocked to learn it was common in England too.

This story is very gripping and their were lots of twists which surprised me and made me keep reading long into the night. Sam’s investigation was well described and I really enjoyed reading about her emotional journey. Sam handled the situation with great sensitivity but didn’t allow herself to be put off the story which I really admired about her.

As mentioned above, this unbelievably is Emily’s debut novel and I really look forward to reading more from her. I will definitely be recommending this book to everyone as I think it is a very important book for everyone to read.

Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to Headline for my copy of this book via Netgalley. If you like gripping, emotional reads about a harrowing part of Britain’s history then you’ll love this book.