Victorian and Dickensian fans will like this book - the feel is just perfect for that gothic subgenre, and revenge is best served cold, and in this case, this book gave me chills at points.
A really good read, and worth the time.

3.5 stars
Dark and unsettling, Lily’s story is one of hardship and trauma. This is full of those Dickensian hints of poverty, foundlings and a hard life. Lily has seen and been through so much in her young life and all the women in this story are portrayed as suffering in such a male dominated world.

The download date was unfortunately missed, I would be happy to re-review if it became available again. I have awarded stars for the book cover and description as they both appeal to me. I would be more than happy to re-read and review if a download becomes available. If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

In 1850 Lily is abandoned as a baby and taken to a foundling hospital by the policeman who finds her. The first six years of her life are spent happily in Suffolk with a loving foster family before she is returned to the hospital to repay her debt and the sins of her mother.
This is a heartbreaking novel that makes you want to weep at times. The fact that Lily has known a loving home before spending the rest of her childhood in such abusive and neglectful conditions makes her story so much worse. However, the novel also made me laugh out loud several times and glimmers of hope and love shine through.

For a long time I wanted to read this book and Lily did not disapoint in any way.
Revenge sometimes brings the oddest of feelings and when it happens can change perspectives and lives.
Lily suffered immensely at the Foundling and reality surrounding her was too much.
With a very strong female character, this book brings this period in history alive and shows how hard and isolating was for women and children of that era.

Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for my review copy, I really enjoyed reading this historical novel.

This is a bittersweet book about girl who was left wrapped in sacking and This is a bittersweet book about girl who was left wrapped in sacking and found by a young policeman who took her to the Foundling hospital in London. You know she killed someone but it's not until the end we find out who. It traverses between the past and present telling the story of Rose. It is nicely written but I felt it lacked depth , however it is a nice book to read. If you love historical novels you will like this one.

I didn't like this book at all.

I felt as though the story bounced about from past to present and left me feeling confused.
A very sad story that left me feeling miserable.

I love Rose Tremain so I was excited to read her latest book. It was definitely the gothic book I was hoping for - dark, compelling, hard to put down!

I would have probably enjoyed this more if I hadn’t known it was by Rose Tremain, whose work I normally love. The content and realism was definitely my bag, but I found the story difficult to follow, jumping across timelines and it also seemed to lack depth of plot and subtlety. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

A difficult novel to read. Lily is an interesting character living a traumatic life but the story was too dark and from for me.

Lily is 17 and she’s a murderer. This the reader learns from the outset. What we don’t know is the identity of the victim or the reason for the killing. So begins this melodramatic “tale of revenge” set in Victorian London.
Lily is a foundling who was discovered on a wild London night by a kindly constable Sam Trent. He rescues the wailing, bleeding newborn who is being set upon by a pack of wolves in a park and delivers her to a foundling hospital. For her first six years she is raised on a country farm where she enjoys an idyllic life in the bosom of the maternal farmer’s wife.
Lily’s misery begin in earnest when she is returned to the home where a vicious nun has it in for her. Life is constant trauma and hardship until Lily leaves to go and work at a wig emporium, where she soon becomes a skilled seamstress.
As she grows up Lily becomes furious with her mother for abandoning her and when she comes across a strange woman who sells religious paraphernalia she becomes obsesses with proving this is her mom.
Sam meanwhile has kept up his interest in the child he found and, despite being married, ends up falling in love with the teenage Lily. She in turn develops feelings for him and becomes convinced she is going to confess her crime to him.
Apart from being an engaging story steeped in Dickensian atmosphere, the story seethes with the novelist’s anger at the shoddy treatment of children in 19th century England. Tremain is the master of the historical novel, and while this isn’t her best in my opinion, it’s still deliciously readable.

The story of Lilly, a foundling in Victorian England who is placed in the London foundling hospital. After having been placed with foster parents until she is six her life goes downhill at the school.

#Lily is an orphan, abandoned at birth and taken to the Coram hospital for foundlings in Victorian London. In a series of flashbacks we are told her story. From a simple, happy life as a fostered daughter on a farm; her return to the orphanage/hospital and all that happens there and her current adolescence in London as an apprentice. We are also told she is a murderer and the who, where and why is slowly revealed.

It’s atmospheric, though slow paced. I wish there was a happier ending written, but Lily’s life is brutal, as no doubt it was for people in her situation and class in Victorian England. I kept rooting for her and recommend this book.

Thanks to the publisher and #NetGalley for my free copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

The sub-title of ‘Lily’ by Rose Tremain is ‘A Tale of Revenge’ and on the first page we learn that sixteen-year-old Lily Mortimer is a murderer and expects to die soon. It is a compelling beginning.
This is the story of Lily’s life from when as a baby she was found abandoned in a sack being attacked by wolves. Found by a police officer she is taken to London’s Foundling Hospital from where she is placed with a foster family at Rookery Farm in Suffolk. A beautiful telling of a difficult childhood, softened by Tremain’s exquisite writing, ‘Lily’ shows Victorian London where charitable works sometimes work for the orphaned child and sometimes against. It explores the nature of happiness in a rural life, often hard, but surrounded by love. At the age of six, Lily is returned to London and forbidden contact with her foster parents, Nellie and Perkin Buck, who were paid for their care of her and, after delivering her, collect a new foster baby. Lily is courageous, pragmatic, rebellious and, throughout the harsh years that follow, is sustained by the memory of Nellie’s love. And so starts the cycle of Lily’s life, of hope followed by despair.
Lily’s friendship with fellow orphan Bridget is very touching. It reminded by of Jane Eyre’s friendship with Helen Burns at Lowood, a story that has stayed with me ever since first reading the novel as a teenager.
The almost-adult Lily, dreaming of her death, wonders, ‘Whyever did I struggle so long and so hard to make my way in a place which was bent on my destruction ever since I came into it? Why did I not surrender to death when I was a child, for children’s pictures of death are fantastical and full of a strange beauty?’ The story changes pace when Lily realises she cannot put the past behind her, she must face what she did and why.
The timeline flits back and forth a bit between Lily as a child, in Suffolk and at the Hospital where she is trained for menial employment, and as an adult when she works at the gloriously named and imagined Belle Prettywood’s Wig Emporium which makes wigs for opera and stage productions. It is in the older voice that we learn more about the murder she committed. This is not a murder mystery or a whodunnit, it’s not even a who-was-it-done-to. It's about a girl who survives an abusive, neglectful childhood by giving and receiving love, kindness and compassion, who learns how to survive alone in the world. Yes, Lily is vulnerable. She longs to love and be loved, but she’s also resilient, despite everything.
Compelling, difficult to put down. Beautifully written.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

Such an interesting story, with lots of surprises; what a sad little girl, so wished the book to have a happy ending but felt I was left in limbo

You don’t escape old passions in my reading this week …. Back in 1983 I bought Granta’s Best Young British Novelists which features extracts from what Granta considered to be the 20 best upcoming novelists. Many of those have been reading companions for the last 38 years. Rose Tremain was one them, her latest novel Lily has kept me entranced this week. It tells the tale of Lily, a foundling who has a deep and dark secret. We are told in the opening sequence that she has committed murder but we don’t know who. We learn Lily’s story via a series of flashbacks. Wonderful atmospheric stuff.

A favourite author of mine, so I was very excited to read her latest novel.
The story details the life of Lily, a baby who had been abandoned in London and found by Sam Trench, a police officer. Set in 1850s, it tells of Lily being placed at the Foundling Hospital and then with a foster family where she was incredibly happy for the first six years of her life.

As she grows up, she is met with much sadness.

I found the first part of the story very good, but as Lily grew up, it was quite depressing really. And I had high hopes for a happy ending, but it is left wanting.

Still a great read, but not as good as the author’s previous novels.

Historical drama centred around ,Lily an abandoned baby in London. We follow her life,dramas and worries,will she find happiness?

2.5 stars

I had high hopes for this book. While it did keep my interest (and I read it in one sitting), this is only because I’m interested in the period and the subject. Unfortunately it was quite dull and not the ‘tale of revenge’ expected. It felt like the author was trying to rewrite Hetty Feather for adults.

The first part held promise as we see Lily begin her life as a foundling child, finding comfort with a family in Suffolk, before returning to the misery of the Foundling Hospital. The countryside is very picturesque and well-written, although the prose is structured quite strangely.

Once Lily is an adult the book become monotonous. Nothing really happens, although there are lots of ‘almost’ events. Her big secret isn’t really a secret at all, as it’s fairly clear who she’s murdered and why long before we’re told.

There are some interesting characters, but we never learn enough about them. Bridget is very much a Helen to Lilly’s Jane Eyre and Sam is a seemingly important character who ends up being irrelevant; his reaction to Lily’s confession is out of character and disappointing.

Lily’s final ‘happy’(?) ending is underwhelming. We are left with unresolved questions and a feeling that this book never truly reached its climax.

A fascinating portrayal of life as a Victorian foundling - In 1850s London, Lily was abandoned as a baby and taken to the London Foundling Hospital where she was fostered by a wonderful loving and hardworking family for 6 years. The law decreed that foster placements could only last for 6 years so after that time she is returned to the Foundling Hospital where life is much harsher, the inhumane way that the foundlings are blamed for their own beginnings leaps out at you. But from the start of the book, we know Lily is a murderess by the time she's 17 and the story of how she reaches that point is fascinating - the title 'a tale of revenge' hints at what's in store.

I loved learning more about this period of British history and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Victorian fiction.