This reads more non-fiction than fiction as its so close to home and how women in those days had the deal with putting their babies up for adoption even if they didnt want to and how they didnt get to find out if they went to good homes. The mothers were treated as whores and sinners to god, as Ireland was highly religious in the 60’s. Heartbreaking reality in a book handled well by Rachael English

What a beautiful and enchanting read.
This book is well written and obviously well researched. The hard subject matter is dealt with very sensitively

This is my first book by this author and won’t be my last. This was a compelling and harrowing tale of life in one of the mother and baby Homes in Ireland during the 1970s and was an eye opening and enlightening read. It is hard to imagine what went on inside those homes and in this day and age.

The story brought to light the horrors of such places and events in a very sensitive and thought provoking way and despite this being a work of fiction it felt like it was bringing the true stories of what happened during that time to life in a very real way.

Set between the past and present day, Kate worked in the home that Patricia was sent to and now she wants to reunite the Paper Bracelets with their mothers. Kate and her niece set up a forum stating that they might be able to help the adopted children.
Throughout this book you gain both sides of the story as you get to know other children who were adopted and reach out via the forum.
A difficult read in places whilst giving a wonderful insight to how girls would have been treated in Ireland in this time period.

Oh my goodness, I was not prepared for how emotional this would be. It is an absolutely beautiful heart warming story and I couldn’t put it down.

I really enjoyed this, I thought it was well written and easy to get into. I didn’t know much about this that happened in Ireland, so I found it really interesting from that point of view.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

This is the story of a newly widowed retired nurse who worked in a Mother & Baby home in the West of Ireland in the early 1970s and has kept baby birth bracelets from then . She decides to try to give them back to the babies born then. Essentially it is a very moving book that deals with the Irish Mother & Baby Homes & illegitimate births & adoption scandals. It is clearly very well researched and a sad but great read.

I really enjoyed this story told from a different perspective. It taught me a lot about a period of history I previously didn't know very much about and it was quite emotional in parts.

Very moving tale! Touching on the atrocities that happened in Ireland in the not too distant past! Beautifully written! A joyful ending to a terrible tale! Too awful to contemplate! But we must! An important insight into what these young girls dealt with! Horrific!

I greatly enjoyed this book, thank you for giving me a preview copy. The plot was interesting and fast paced and I sympathised with the characters. This is the first novel I have read by this author but I hope it will not be the last!

A poignant tale, set in the 1970's when glam rock was all the rage and current times. Yet hidden away were a group of young women, "penitents" who were left with life in ruins and a secret that had to be kept. The Paper Bracelet is a beautifully written novel of a story that has to be remembered. A story that should remind us to challenge 'the norm" and always look out for the best in each other.

"In 1967, 97 percent of children born to unmarried mothers in Ireland were the subject of adoption orders."

Sixty-nine year old Katie once worked in a mother and baby home as a nurse. A place where unmarried pregnant women were sent, to be ruled over by abusive nuns and nurses and have their babies forcibly removed from them and put up for adoption with married parents.

Unbeknown to anyone, during her employment, Katie kept the babies paper identity bracelets, along with a notebook where she had jotted down odd little details she knew about the mother and baby.

When Katie finds herself contemplating the frailty of human life, she takes her box of paper bracelets and endeavours to find the children born at Carigbrack in Ireland during her employment there. Katie with the help of her niece Beth, make plans to track down the people who once wore the paper bracelets in Katie box, and help them identify and find their birth mothers should they wish to do so.

This is an incredibly moving, heart-breaking book. Especially when reading about the unmarked graves of babies who did not survive birth or live for very long after being born; and understanding that this novel, while essentially being a work of fiction, is based on stories the author heard from real women who lived in mother and baby homes.

When we think of events like this, it's easy to think of it as ancient history, hundreds of years old. At the very least not lasting much past the 1950's. But Katie worked at the fictitious home of Carigbrack in the 1970's and in real life, Bessborough a mother and baby home in Cork was open until the late 1990s! From what I can find out online, there were still mother and baby homes open in England in the 1980s.

Thank you to Netgalley and Headline for the arc of The Paper bracelet by Rachael English.

4 stars- a quick, enjoyable read, page turner as well.

This is about Katie whom for 50 years has held a secret, which involves a box which she has hidden at the back of the wardrobe, which was from when she was nursing in the Ireland mother and baby hospital, there inside is a notebook of details of all the babies and young women whom she met at the hospital, it also many of their paper identity bracelets. Katies husband then dies... then she has an idea to reunite adopted children with their real birth mothers so she posts something online and then she gets replies upon replies coming in.

This is a story with a lot of little twists (and one very big one) based on true events at one of the many mother and baby homes of the 1970s.
Patricia is only young when she is sent away, pregnant and unwed, to spare her family the shame. She is one of many Irish girls who ended up in these Church-run institutions. They worked hard every day under difficult circumstances and hard conditions until they gave birth, weren’t allowed much time with their babies, and continued to work until they had “paid their debt” while their children were being given up for adoption, often against their will.
Even though it was hard, Patricia (that’s the name she was given so she wouldn’t be recognised by anyone) made friends with some of the other women and they helped each other through.
The home was run by nuns and a few nurses. One of them was Katie Carroll. During her time there, she saw a number of babies being born and while she left after a few years, she never quite let go; for over 40 years she kept the paper bracelets of the babies born in her time there.
And when she finally decides to open the box again to try and reunite them with their owners, she opens herself up to a lot more. Each bracelet has a story; often it isn’t a happy one, but each bracelet also represents a chance for a child (now adult) to find out about their birthmother.
We follow her story, Patricia, and a few of the people looking to reconnect with their biological mother as their stories unfold. It is harrowing at times, often sad, and gives a lot of food for thought as each situation is different and very personal.

At first I struggled to become 'gripped' by this book, it was a bit of a slow starter for me.

I am so glad I persevered though. A unique plot, full of heartbreak, love and friendship. I loved seeing the connections unfold and really rooted for a good ending for all of the characters.

A beautiful and heart wrenching book.

This is a beautiful story which goes a little way to tell of the horrors that happened in homes run by nuns for un married mothers. The girls families so full of shame would send them away once they knew they were pregnant. Even after having their babies taken away from them for adoption they were made to work to pay back their keep.
The book is of Katie who worked in one of these homes. Over the time she worked their she collected the little paper bracelets of these babies. Now in later life she wants to help those who want to find their mothers. She places an advert and people get in touch.
This book shows how society has changed over the years. Being an unmarried mother was a stigma. It's also a book of love, emotion and finding yourself. Well worth a read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

"We're your neighbour, she thought, your friend, your aunt, your mother. We're the women who left and the ones who stayed. Some of us have been able to talk. Others may yet get the chance."

Grieving her husband's recent death, Katie decides to confront something from her past. In the 1970s, Katie worked as a nurse in Carrigbrack, a mother and baby home in Ireland where young unmarried girls were sent to have their babies in secret, often forced into giving their children up for adoption afterwards. For almost fifty years she kept hold of the paper identity bracelets of babies that were born in the years she worked there. With the assistance of her niece Beth, she decides now is the time to try and help reunite people with their birth mothers. One message on an online forum leads to responses from as far away as Boston.

But as she delves back into her past, she may not be prepared for some of her own secrets that may be uncovered. Inspired by true events, The Paper Bracelet examines the role and perception of women in society. A heartbreaking read, but one I enjoyed nonetheless.

It’s sometimes easy to forget that the reality of the mother and baby homes isn’t something from dim and distant history – I know they were still very much around in the UK when I was well into my twenties (late 70s/early 80s?). I do think though that the Irish cultural context made them a considerably harsher regime – the forced labour, the virtual imprisonment, that whole concept of “sin”, the inadequacies of the medical support available and the cruel separation of mothers from their children. And I’d guess many of us have shed tears over the accounts of the graveyards with the tiny unidentified graves… I’ll admit I was rather expecting the focus of this book to be on that sad catalogue of injustice and cruelty.

Instead, the way it’s handled made it something quite different, and it was an approach I really enjoyed. In the present day, we meet Katie – recently widowed, now in her seventies – who was a nurse for a while, in the 1970s, at the mother and baby home at Carigbrack. While there, she assembled a box of all the newborn children’s paper bracelets, and kept a notebook tracking what happened to them: with the luxury of a little time and breathing space, and helped by her niece Beth who has the IT skills she lacks, she makes it her mission to reunite the bracelets with those now-adult children, while doing whatever she can to help reconnect them with their birth mothers. But it’s also a “then and now” story – threaded through Katie’s story is the day-to-day life of Patricia, one of the young mothers-to-be, both her personal story and that of others subjected to life at the home.

The structure works exceptionally well. Katie’s mission, both its successes and failures, provide a wonderful story filled with well-drawn characters, each with their own lives and background stories that provide real texture and interest. Patricia’s story is harrowing and emotional, and all that cruelty and injustice might have been too much to take had it all been told as an end-to-end story – by dipping in, I think it might just have a greater impact, but I did rather welcome the opportunity to look away from time to time.

There was so much about this book I really enjoyed – the way the emotional content was handled, the layering of the stories, the detective work that Katie and Beth only initiate at first but then get increasingly involved in supporting, and the whole examination of the dynamics of family both in the 70s and in the present day. And all the time, as you read, there’s that niggling discomfort that this isn’t a work of pure fiction – although the facts were only inspired by the history, the experiences were all too real.

Am I making it all sound a bit sombre and depressing? It really isn’t – there’s plenty of lightness in Katie and Beth’s story, more than enough opportunities to smile and laugh a little, and some moments of absolute joy when their efforts are successful. In fact, the only thing about this book I’m still not entirely sure about is its ending – I’ll admit it didn’t entirely work for me, maybe just a little bit too tidy, but you might well feel entirely differently.

I found the book a totally compelling read – and it’s one I’d most certainly recommend to others.

What an emotional read. I knew the subject matter of this book would be heart breaking.

The book is so well written, it adds on twists and suspense to the topic and adds enough heart warming moments to balance the sadness without detracting from what was an awful experience.

The book follows Katie, who was a nurse at a mother and baby home. She is on a mission, helped by her niece, to give some hope to mothers and babies who came through the home.

Little did she know her own secrets would be exposed, she would meet a rock star and risk losing family as well as gaining some.

I wonderful book

I’m familiar with the unlawful adoptions in Ireland through other books and films like Philomena and The Magdalene Sisters so this book covered familiar territory. Familiar doesn’t mean being complacent and having no expectations. The subject matter is very moving, intense and emotional. I cried a lot reading this. This is my first time reading the author. This book is split between the present with Katie using the paper bracelets she kept from her days working in one of homes and flashbacks of unwed mothers who lived in the home during Katie’s time. I connected more with the story set in the past than present events. I was caught up in the story from page one and it kept my attention all the way through. There are many heart-tugging, heart-breaking moments in the book. I still struggle to fully comprehend that the homes for unwed mothers were real. This is worth a read.