“It never occurred to her that it was unfair. That something so quick, so fleeting, could have such catastrophic consequences. That Robert got off scot-free and that her life, her future, was ruined.” -‘The Only Child’ by Kayte Nunn.
In 1949 a pregnant sixteen-year-old arrives at Fairmile, a home for 'fallen women' run by the Catholic Church on Orcades Island in Puget Sound, Washington.
In 2013 Frankie Gray has recently returned from Australia and is spending her summer on Orcades Island. She works in law enforcement and in September she will become the island’s new deputy sheriff. However, before then she hopes to use the summer to reconnect with her teenage daughter, Izzy. They are both staying with her mother, Diana, who has purchased Fairmile and is renovating it as a luxury inn.
Then two events occur: an elderly former nun is found dead in suspicious circumstances at the residential home where Frankie’s grandmother, Ingrid, lives and a tiny skeleton is discovered in the grounds of Fairmile house. Frankie goes in search of answers.
The narrative moves between 1949 and 2013 and in due course secrets are uncovered and mysteries solved. While technically ‘The Only Child’ is crime fiction, I would class it as women’s fiction with mystery elements.
Kayte Nunn writes in the Acknowledgements that while Orcades Island and Fairmile are fictional there were real life facilities in the United States during the postwar period. I have read novels about the Irish Magdalene Laundries, but was unaware that similar institutions existed in the USA.
Overall, while I had began reading with expectations of more crime and investigation, I did find ‘The Only Child’ a slow burn, character-led novel that focused on the legacy of the mother and baby homes and the heartbreak faced by unwed mothers. It was a moving novel even if not quite my cup of tea.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
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![The Only Child: The new utterly compelling and heartbreaking novel from the bestselling author of The Botanist's Daughter (English Edition) de [Kayte Nunn]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51ko9B2FepL._SY346_.jpg)
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