The Girl From The Workhouse

Hello Everyone! Welcome to my stop today on the Blog Tour for this fabulous book, The Girl From The Workhouse by Lynn Johnson and allowing me to share my review with you! First as always a thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for allowing me to participate and a thank you to Lynn Johnson and the publisher for giving me the privilege to read and review this book. Now to find out more about this book…

Lynn Johnson

Sam White/Ginnie Jones

thegirlfromtheworkhouse-lj — **Published:** February 18, 2020

My Rating: 5/5

BookBlurb

Even in the darkest of times, she never gave up hope

Staffordshire, 1911. Ginnie Jones’s childhood is spent in the shadow of the famous Potteries, living with her mother, father and older sister Mabel. But with Father’s eyesight failing, money is in short supply, and too often the family find their bellies aching with hunger. With no hope in sight, Ginnie is sent to Haddon Workhouse.

Separated from everything she has known, Ginnie has to grow up fast, earning her keep by looking after the other children with no families of their own. When she meets Clara and Sam, she hopes that she has made friends for life… until tragedy strikes, snatching away her newfound happiness.

Leaving Haddon three years later, Ginnie finds work as a mouldrunner at the Potteries, but never stops thinking about her friends in the workhouse – especially Sam, now a caring, handsome young man. When Sam and Ginnie are reunited, their bond is as strong as ever – until Sam is sent to fight in WW1. Faced with uncertainty, can Ginnie find the joy that she’s never had? Or will her heart be broken once again?

An emotional, uplifting and nostalgic family saga that will make you smile, while tugging on your heart-strings. Fans of Sheila Newbury, Kitty Neale and Sheila Riley will love this beautiful read.

Review_RmA

The Girl From the Workhouse is author Lynn Johnson’s debut novel set in Burslem from 1911 to 1919. I enjoy reading books in this time period and was extremely impressed with Ms. Johnson’s writing style. I’m so happy to have found a new author and look forward to reading more from her in the future!

This story focuses on a young girl, Ginnie Jones who at age eleven has to leave her home and all she’s known to enter into Haddon Workhouse in the year 1911 with her parents. The story is written into two parts, the first part is Ginnie’s life inside Haddon from 1911 to 1914 and then the second part is her life after she leaves Haddon from 1914 to 1919. We watch as Ginnie grows up from a young girl to a young woman and then how WW1 takes a toll on all those around her. As her friendship with a boy from Haddon, Sam White grows into love, one has to wonder if they will ever find happiness with the war raging in the background.

This truly was a fabulous story from beginning to end and I struggled to put it down! I really loved Ginnie, she was a wonderful, loveable character. As we follow her through her life at Haddon Workhouse and then later when she is grown up and working, you can’t help but want to see her finally get a HEA. I adored Sam and it’s obvious he loves Ginnie. I couldn’t help but root for this couple to find a way to be together. There were so many wonderful secondary characters in this book, each with fascinating stories of their own. The book is richly detailed, beautifully written and the storyline along with the characters was enthralling.

This was so much more than a romance story. It was a story of life, death, survival, heartache and finally happiness. I look forward to reading Ms. Johnson’s next book that is supposed to feature Connie a prominent character in this book, and hopefully catching up with Ginnie and Sam again! Highly recommend!

~ Rose

Lynn Johnson

Lynn Johnson was born in the Staffordshire Potteries and went to school in Burslem, where the novel is set. She left school with no qualifications and got a job as a dental nurse (and lasted a day), a nursery assistant, and a library assistant before her ambition grew and she enrolled at the Elms Technical College, Stoke-on-Trent and obtained six O’levels. She obtained a Diploma in Management Studies and a BA Hons in Humanities with Literature from the Open University while working full-time.

Most of her working life was spent in Local Government in England and Scotland, and ultimately became a Human Resources Manager with a large county council.

She started to write after taking early retirement and moving to the north of Scotland with her husband where she did relief work in the famous Orkney Library and Archives, and voluntary work with Orkney’s Learning Link. Voluntary work with Cats Protection resulted in them sharing their home with six cats.

She joined Stromness Writing Group and, three months after moving to Orkney, wrote a short story which would become the Prologue to The Girl From the Workhouse.