No Ocean Too Wide

Carrie Turansky is a prolific author of primarily historical fiction. With this book, she begins a new series detailing the lives of three children whose mother has been taken to the hospital and because of that, they ended up in an orphanage. 

The supervisors at the orphanage told the children their mother had died and gave them the opportunity to go to Canada to be adopted.  This turn of the century orphan immigration was largely operated illegally.  Parents were not given a chance to claim their children nor the chance to give their permission for the children to go.

Garth and Katie, the twins, and Grace, the youngest child, are set up in separate portions of the orphanage.  Katie and Garth are not supposed to communicate with each other, but they pass notes through the fence to keep up with each other.  That is how Katie finds out that Garth is on the next transport to Canada.  Katie talks to her matron about passage for her and Grace, not knowing that their oldest sister, Laura, is coming for them. 

Laura engages the aid of the lawyer, whose mother was her employer, to help her get her siblings back. 

This is definitely a great book to read, based on true events.  The orphan immigration was run mostly on bribes and other illegal activity.  Some of the children were abused by their adoptive parents, and it made a sad story in the history of England and Canada.  Four strong stars. 

My thanks to NetGalley.com and WaterBrook/Multnomah for providing the galley I read.