Hi everyone. I haven’t touched the blog or WordPress in general for that matter much in a few days. I’m still struggling a little, but thankfully have been quite active both physically and mentally lately. One of those ways of staying active has been reading. Last week, Maggie Hartley’s latest foster care memoir came out and I immediately downloaded it off Apple Books (I never pre-order eBooks). I finished reading it this afternoon. Here’s my review.
Book Description
‘They made me do it, it wasn’t my fault!’
When three brothers come to live with Maggie, she knows that it’s going to be challenging. They are all already struggling with rejection after their dad abandoned them, their mum having died several years before.
While four-year-old Billy is a delight, eleven-year-old Keegan is quiet and withdrawn, and teenager Cooper is a whirlwind of destruction. His behaviour at school is disruptive and Maggie struggles to get through to him, especially when he’s in danger of being expelled.
But when a shocking discovery turns everything on its head, Maggie begins to realise that what she believed to be true is completely wrong. Danger is lurking, but is it too late for Maggie to help?
From Britain’s best-loved foster carer, a new and emotional true story of bonds, brothers and family.
My Review
Before I’d well and truly gotten into this book, I read in a Facebook group for foster care and related memoirs that this book was a slow burner. I can assure you this is true, but I can also say that it needs to be. Through the slow pace, I really got to know the characters.
Usually, foster care memoirs are a little on the predictable side at least for me, given that I’ve read many of them and know the drill quite well. This book, however, was less predictable than Maggie Hartley’s other books. Though I did see the twists coming, there still was enough surprise in them for my liking. I actually hadn’t expected many details that were in the twists.
I did find the characters quite well-developed. I don’t know how well a foster carer can get to know a child in just a few months, so I don’t know how much of this is Maggie’s writing style and how much is indeed based on what actually happened. I did get to like all characters, though I still have mixed feelings about the Dad. Unlike some of the other foster care memoirists, Maggie Hartley doesn’t seem to have a page online with updates on the kids. As a result, this is all we have to deal with and the ending is quite open. I’m still undecided as to whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It however certainly kept me thinking long after I’d finished the book.
A Multitude of Musings 