The Runaway Children - Lindsey Hutchinson

 *This review is part of a blog tour organised by Rachel's Random Resources. The book was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review. All opinions given are my own.*

Genre: Historical Saga

Pages: 345

Rating: ☆☆☆☆/5

Synopsis: In two rundown houses, at the side of a barren Black Country heath, live six children with no family but each other. Abandoned or orphaned, every day is a fight to find food and keep warm. But they are determined to stay free of the clutches of the workhouse and the horrors that would face them if they were ever torn apart.

Dora Parsons lives with her mother Mary and her evil grandmother Edith. Edith’s house may be comfortable and warm, and food is plentiful, but every day Dora suffers at the hands of her spiteful gran. Desperate to protect her child, Mary longs to run away but she has no money to keep them alive and nowhere else to call home.

When fate intervenes and Mary and Dora meet the children, events are set in train that will change all their lives forever. But will the friends find peace and comfort at last, or does the chill of the winter signal the most desperate ending of all…

My Thoughts: I would firstly like to thank Rachel at Rachel's Random Resources for organising this blog tour and allowing me to participate. The Runaway Children comes in a long stint of historical fiction books I've started this year with, and once again it did not disappoint. This is the first Lindsey Hutchinson book I've read, but I knew I was in for a treat when I looked on Goodreads and saw so many 5 star reviews! Due to the way I review books, it's very rare that I give out a 5 star, so my four star does not mean the book was bad or had issues in any way!! The novel is set in the late-Victorian era Black Country (an area of the West Midlands in England, for all of my overseas followers!) and I love anything Victorian which I think made this book appeal to me that little bit more.

The book is a decent size but I flew through it and couldn't put it down. It's gritty, emotional and gripping and the style of writing perfectly complements this. The characters are fantastically written. Edith - Dora's grandmother is a complete witch, an awful woman and although she's a terrible woman, everything about her was fantastically written which helped to portray the way she is even better.

All in all, this is another fantastic historical fiction book hosted by Rachel's Random Resources - I'm feeling so lucky about all of these fantastic books I'm being able to read and review at the moment.

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