A well researched book about the treatment of foundlings in the 1850's. It was a heartbreaking read in this modern world although in Victorian times the situation and treatment of foundlings is not unusual. The fact that Lily was a murderess is a by line. She tries to do her best in the most awful of situations. A gentle read but I felt that something was missing.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK for the advance copy of this book.

Lily's story broke my heart. To be a child, so lost and alone and taken from the only family she knew... No wonder she still had a child's way of looking at problems and fears. The whole book is written in a touching, beautiful way that really gives the reader an insight into Lily's thoughts and mind. I was concerned I'd be put off by the time - jumping but I settled into the rhythm very quickly and enjoyed the stream of consciousness like aspect to the book.

Such a dark, intense tale of life for foundlings in Victorian England and the casual cruelty they are treated with. Lily experiences love and happiness with Nellie and her family on the farm until she has to return to the foundling hospital aged six. She is abused and let down at every turn but survives to find some sort of a life. This is a beautifully written tale, compelling and shocking but perhaps there is hope in the end.

Despite this book feeling a bit disjointed at the beginning it ended up being a really enjoyable read. Lily manages to survive the trauma of being dragged from an idyllic childhood into a nightmarish existence back at the Coram in London, an orphanage which she had been taken to as a new born after being abandoned in a park. The book begins in 1850 and it feels very authentic and true to the era. Lily's a great character and I hope there will be more of her life for readers in the future.

An unusual story and the time shifts were disconcerting and cost the book a rating star. Well written as one would expect from this author and a very good read. A well paced tale of a hard life. With thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for an e-ARC of this title in excgange for an honest review

I was attracted to the premise of this book, but unfortunately it failed to grab me once I started reading. For me personally, I found it far too slow and I struggled with the time shifts in narrative - it was difficult to differentiate between the ‘now’ of the book and the time of the murder. However, the protagonist’s character is really well written. She is realistic and flawed, but the author ensures that you empathise with her throughout. You really feel Lily’s heartbreak and ache for a happy ending for her.

On a cold November night in 1850, Lily is found abandoned in Victoria Park by policeman Sam Trench. She is taken to the foundling hospital where she is soon fostered. For the first six years of her life to Nellie who lives on a farm in Suffolk. She loves it there and wants to spend the rest of her life there. But the rules say she must be returned to the hospital after six years. She is distraught.
When she is returned, she is beaten and abused. They tell her she is worthless, and she must repent her sins. And she must pay back her debt to the hospital. There is no kindness at the hospital, and she is always reminded of the predicament she is in. When she was living with Nellie, she had learnt to sew so with these skills she ends up working for Belle Pettywood’s Wig Emporium. They praise her for her skills. But she is always filled with guilt of what she done when she left the hospital. If anyone knew she would be sent to the gallows.
Thank you, Random House Vintage for a copy of Lily by Rose Tremain. This is the first book from the author I have read. The author is a great storyteller. This is a beautifully written tale of Lily but also the lives of orphan children who ended up at the foundling hospital. The harshness and the cruelty that they endured whilst there. You felt sorry for her actions she has made, and you can feel her desperation coming off the pages. I really enjoyed this tale and will be seeking out more books from the author. 5 stars from me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Random House UK, Vintage, Chatto & Windus and Rose Tremain for giving me access to an ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. When I was younger, I visited the Foundling Museum many times on both family and school trips and often wondered what life would've been like for a child living there. This was wonderfully written and I could clearly see through Lily's eyes at the harsh and often horrific conditions she was forced to live in., especially compared to her wonderful childhood.

This was a wonderful story, which I recommend 100% to anyone looking for a story to lose themselves in for a while.

The story of Lily is a deep gothic telling of a common theme of Victorian foundling grown up and alone in the world, but Rose Tremain's treatment of the theme is delightful to read and takes the story to another level.

Lily has been brought up in a country idyll but must be returned to the foundling home age 6, a traumatic parting from her foster mother and various kinds of abuse in the years at the orphanage see Lily struggling to make a life for herself as as adult.

As she goes through the events that have led her to commit a murder, she is presented with sympathy and her story used to highlight the predicament of such children in Victorian times, without straying from her individual story.

There is genuine emotion and empathy in a well-written story that keeps it secrets until nearing the end and with it keeps hold of its hopes for redemption. Very moving and beautifully told.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great storyline with excellent characters. I would highly recommend this book as it was a great read.

A gentle read. A Victorian foundling story. A story of revenge.
Beautifully narrated with Lily’s voice clear, emphatic and ringing with an endearing intimacy. It tells of fragile friendships, the Coram orphanage in London, a sadistic nun, the impermeability of class structures, poverty, female entrepreneurs, short-lived rural bliss in Suffolk and Lily‘s survival in a world pitted against her.
Jolts in time and scene were a bit confusing - sometimes within a paragraph - but you soon realised where in the story you were.

Lily is abandoned as a newborn in London in Victorian England. Rescued and taken to the Foundling hospital she is fostered in the Suffolk countryside for the first 6 years of her life. But the rules of the Foundling Hospital are that all children have to be returned from foster care when they are 6 years old to learn skills to give themselves a profession to repay the hospital for taking them in as abandoned babies.
Lily’s years at the hospital were brutal and the staff cruel and violent but she never forgot the love of her foster family and is desperate to find her way back to them.
Beautifully written and a perfect heroine in Lily. She’s courageous and bold, but with a fragility as she seeks love after so much cruelty. You can’t fail to root for her throughout even though the book does open with her confessing to murder!

Although abandoned as a newborn baby, on a cold and foggy November night in Victoria Park, London in 1850, Lily Mortimer’s first six years were idyllic - hard backbreaking labour, but idyllic nonetheless, as she was fostered by a kind and loving farming family. Nellie and Perkin Buck and their sons, loved Lily and she loved them right back. Surrounded by the beautiful landscape of rural Suffolk, and with a family and animals that she loved, Lily was really happy.

After six years, she was returned to the Foundling Hospital where she had been cared for as a baby, that was the law, that she be returned to their care after the six years were up. The parting, when it came was heartbreaking for all concerned.

Life in the Foundling Hospital is harsh and cruel, a place where children are shown no love, indeed they’re reminded constantly of their worthlessness. Eventually, because of her excellent sewing skills, as taught by her foster mother Nellie, Lily is given a place at Belle Prettywood’s Wig Emporium, where she is highly regarded for her skills, but nobody knows that Lily has a secret, something that could seal her fate with the gallows!

This is particularly well written historical fiction, bringing 19th century rural Suffolk and London, deliciously to life. It’s impossible not to feel empathy for Lily, and the narrative plays on one’s curiosity, pulling the reader ever onwards on a journey that is impossible to predict.

Rose Tremain is such an accomplished author and her latest book , ‘Lily” does not disappoint. We know from the start that Lily has murdered someone but it’s not until near the end of the book that we find out who and why. This book is Lily’s confession in a way as details of her harsh and cruel life are revealed. The language is almost Dickensian and Lily’s story is told unflinchingly and unsentimentally- she accepts each stage of her life because she has never known anything different or better. However, the bleakness and cruelty are balanced by kindness and friendship and caring and we are left at the ending with the hope for a better life for Lily. Another wonderful read from Rose Tremain.

The blurb on this book starts with "nobody yet knows that she is a murderer" . For me it's the least important part of this story.
Lily's life is full of important relationships,that actually made me a little emotional at times,especially towards the end.
Whilst her life may have started bleakly,and certainly hit dark times,there's a lot of love for Lily.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Rose Tremain writes so beautifully and really draws you into the unfolding story of Lily.
Lily is abandoned by the gates of a park as a newborn, one toe is bitten off by a wolf before Sam Trench, a young police man rescues her and carries her across London in a storm to the Coram Foundling Hospital. Lily is fostered out to a family on a farm in Suffolk where she has an idyllic childhood but like the other children at the Coram Hospital has to be returned when she reaches six years of age to be trained up to find a useful occupation on her release.. The seperation is deeply traumatising and the regime at the hospital is brutal. We follow Lily through her years at the hospital and as a young woman working in a wig emporium (going back and forth in time) as her story and "secret" is revealed. Great read.

‘Abandon hope all ye who enter here’, foundling Lily certainly has. After six very happy years being fostered by Perkin and Nellie Buck on their Suffolk farm she is reluctantly returned, as required, to the London Foundling Hospital known as Coram. After what must feel like a lifetime of harshness and suffering she goes to work at Belle Prettywood’s Wig Emporium. When we first meet Lily she’s 17, it’s 1867 and she is wracked with guilt which weighs her down with the enormity of a crime that is making her ill. The story goes backwards and forwards filling in the gaps which works extremely well.

Rose Tremain never lets her readers down as the quality of the writing is so vivid that images spring off pages in full technicolour so we hear the sounds, see the sights, wince and gasp at some of the horrifying experiences at Coram. Lily’s start in life has love and kindness which contrasts so sharply with the inhuman cruelty that is the lot of orphans at this time. They bear the brunt and the taint of their abandonment and are punished for it which completely breaks your heart at the injustice. Lily does get revenge but that’s what haunts her because she’s a good person which she demonstrates time and time again. She is an excellent central protagonist, she bears and wears the scars, she’s courageous in her rebelliousness at the orphan, she’s very brave, has a deep conscience and a long memory of that early love especially from Nellie. You feel such empathy for her and the things that happen to her move you to tears. All the characters are well portrayed with real flair as they come to life before your eyes. Some are kind and loving like Nellie and Belle, right to the opposite end of the spectrum and they make your heart bleed for their unfortunate victims. Although this is a harsh tale, there are some snippets of humour usually when Belle is around, she’s just wonderful. It’s a very powerful story which builds and builds with an ending that feels just right.

Overall, if you like well written historical fiction, with a good plot that you can immerse yourself in then this may just fit the bill.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK, Vintage, Chatto and Windus for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Lily dreams of the gallows because she has committed a murder. She longs to confess to someone what she has done. This story is her confession to the reader, the story of her harsh, early life and how it culminated in murder.
The story is beautifully written and effortlessly poetic. It is a slow burner full of emotion, dominated by both love and fear and with a moving ending. I would have liked a little more action and I kept waiting for something to happen but it never did.
As a short book it was quick and easy to read. I did find that the narrative jumped about from the present to the distant past and early past which at times caused confusion.
Overall it was an enjoyable read but I felt that it just lacked something special.

Lily by Rose Tremain
This is not the first title I've read by Rose Tremain and it will not be the last.
It's a poignant story of a baby found by a policeman one terrible foggy night . He takes her to a foundling hospital to be brought up . The baby is named Lily Mortimer.
We follow her life , from being happy being looked after by a farmer and his loving wife and then back to the founding hospital ( jail ) when she reached the age where families return a young child from fostering to pick up a new one.
I loved the way it the author set out Lily's story which at times was heartbreaking and harsh . It was at times hard to follow as it jumped about a little , but this did not distract from the enjoyment of the book. Spellbinding.

Another engrossing and memorable novel by Rose Tremain, Lily is the story of an abandoned Coram Foundling Hospital baby who is fostered by a loving farming family in Suffolk until she is six years old. The law dictates that, after this time, she must return to the orphanage to learn humility, duty and gratitude despite a daily dose of punishment, abuse and humiliation.
After her institutional years, rebellious Lily is employed at Belle Prettywood's Wig Emporium and enjoys learning her craft and working within a friendly female community. Yet, memories of her time in the foundation and a need to understand her origins underpin her daily life. Will she be able to quiet the voices and the pictures in her head?
Tremain has given us a courageous and determined heroine in Lily. Despite the fact that she has little education and been shown scant affection, she is determined not to become ground down by her circumstances. Through the author’s portrayal of the characteristically vicious Victorian attitude to illegitimate children, she reinforces just how significant a child’s start in life is (perhaps echoes here of her previous memoir ‘Rosie’). Her formative years, spent in a rural idyll provides the strength she needs to believe in herself and, whilst some of her actions are morally wrong, who can blame her for what she does?
This is a wonderful read. The story could, equally, become a powerful screen adaptation. Rose Tremain’s use of period details is entirely convincing; her characters are alive on the page and her narrative reinforces the importance of kindness in an unkind world. Highly recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Vintage for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.