The Forgotten Children
A woman’s search to find her son uncovers the shocking truth about one of Britain’s darkest periods
Struggling with the demons of her past, Emily is a children’s author with a dark secret, and a guilt that threatens to consume her. For twenty years she has lived in Brighton, England, trying to forget the day they took her baby from her, just hours after he was born. But now, in the summer of 1987, she decides to begin the search for her son.
Emily takes refuge in a small town on the Isle of Anglesey to plan the search, where she meets Walter, a gentle stranger, who helps her with his words of wisdom and kindness. But it is when she decides to return home to Hastings, that she really has to face her demons.
Estranged from her parents when she was just sixteen, Emily is shocked by what her mother has to tell her about events that occurred before Emily was even born.
Beside her, throughout her search, is Emily’s beautiful Irish friend, Geraldine, recovering from her own sad experiences. Together they uncover a truth that shocks them all.
The Forgotten Children draws the reader into lives affected by narrow-minded beliefs and blinkered thinking at the highest level. Children who weren’t allowed to be born, children who were abandoned, and children who were taken, forced to lead a life thousands of miles away from everyone and everything they knew – leaving scars that may never heal.
At its heart, The Forgotten Children is a story of survival, but the journey that Emily has to take is painful. Even more so because she knows it was allowed to happen by individuals, religions and governments, who should have known better.
Purchase Links:
US - https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Children-chilling-inspired-events-ebook/dp/B07GZYHLKV
THE FORGOTTEN CHILDREN by Isabella Muir
1. Where did you get the idea for the story?
When I was studying for my MA in Professional Writing I came across a book entitled, Empty Cradles. It is a book I would recommend everyone to read. It is the factual account by Nottinghamshire social worker, Margaret Humphreys, who uncovered the travesty that was the British policy of transporting children to British colonies. The book contains heartbreaking stories of families torn apart, many who were lied to and many more who suffered terrible abuse. Having read Empty Cradles I wanted to write a novel to help raise awareness of the plight of all those families who were affected.
2. Why did you set the story in Sussex?
I was born in St Leonards-on-Sea in East Sussex and spent almost all of my life living in and around Hastings and Bexhill. So it made sense to set the story in towns I was very familiar with. In The Forgotten Children we discover that Emily’s home town is Hastings, then when she flees her home she travels to Brighton and spends the next twenty years there. Brighton is the perfect place for Emily as it offers plenty of distractions to help her try to forget the sadness of her past. Also when she arrives in Brighton in 1967 it is already buzzing with the new ‘pop’ culture, with music and fashion finding its way there from London.
3. Why did you choose to send Emily to the Isle of Anglesey?
When Emily decides to leave her boyfriend, Mark, she doesn’t have any idea where she wants to be. She closes her eyes and puts a pin in the map and finds herself heading to Anglesey. I have been to Anglesey a few times in my life, and I made a point of visiting it again while I was writing The Forgotten Children. It was fascinating to find a headland with a bench, that could have been Walter’s bench – the site of many important conversations between Walter and Emily. I also found a cottage that could easily have been Martha’s Cottage, the place where Emily stays while she tries to decide how best to track down her son. Anglesey is a place where you can immerse yourself in nature, with a strong sense of community, which is exactly what Emily is in need of.
3. Did you feel differently writing this novel, when compared with your Sussex Crime Mystery novels?
Writing The Forgotten Children has been much harder, not from the writing side of things, but from the emotions that it stirred up. I am lucky in that I had a wonderful childhood, but in order to write many of the scenes I needed to put myself in Emily’s shoes, to imagine what it must have been like to have your firstborn child taken away from you. And worse was still to come, when Emily discovers the truth about what happened to her son. Research for the book involved reading harrowing true accounts of what some of the child migrants experienced at the hands of those who were purporting to ‘care’ for them. So, while I am really pleased I have written this book, I think I will be relieved to return to my crime mysteries, with amateur sleuth Janie Juke, librarian and avid Hercule Poirot fan, ferreting out clues and solving crimes.
4. What is the main thing you want readers to take away from The Forgotten Children?
I really hope that the book will help to raise awareness of the plight of the child migrants. Not only what they experienced back in the 1950s and 1960s, but the troubles that they and their families are still experiencing. Margaret Humphreys continues to work on their behalf through the Child Migrants Trust, to seek justice and to help piece families back together. If every one of my readers goes on to read Empty Cradles I will feel I have at least spread the word just that little bit further.
5. What do you do when you’re not writing?
This year my husband and I have got into walking, which I love. We run a small touring caravan site in West Sussex so pretty soon we will be gearing up for another busy season – but hopefully I will still find time to hide away with my notebook and pencil…!
Find out more about the whole range of titles from Isabella Muir:
Email: theisabellamuir@gmail.com
Website: https://isabellamuir.com/
Twitter @SussexMysteries
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/IsabellaMuirAuthor/
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Isabella-Muir/e/B074F18ZSY/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Author Bio – Isabella Muir has been surrounded by books her whole life and – after working for twenty years as a technical editor and having successfully completed her MA in Professional Writing - she was inspired to focus on fiction writing.
As well as her newest title, The Forgotten Children, Isabella is the author of the Sussex Crime Mystery series. These Agatha Christie style stories are set in the sixties and seventies and feature a young librarian and amateur sleuth, Janie Juke, who has a passion for Agatha Christie. All that Janie has learned from her hero, Hercule Poirot, she is able to put into action as she sets off to solve a series of crimes and mysteries.
Aside from books, Isabella has a love of all things caravan-like. She has spent many winters caravanning in Europe and now, together with her husband, she runs a small caravan site in Sussex. They are ably assisted by their much-loved Scottie, Hamish.
Social Media Links –
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