Book Review | Scattered by Nola Lorraine

Nola Lorraine has stepped out of her usual academia and editing mode and entered into the magical world of fiction.

Her debut novel, ‘Scattered’, is testament to her long-term passion to see the story well researched and well written.

I was interested to see Nola chose as her setting the Canadian town of Halifax – familiar to all Anne of Green Gable fans. The time period was also similar to when Anne would have been wandering about the Lake of Shining Waters. Nola also chose orphans and home children (children who are taken by families to work in their homes) as another element. Unfortunately, we didn’t bump into Anne or Gilbert, but we bumped into another generous, honourable and determined young man, Nash. Nathaniel Archibald Sebastian Halliwell. With such atrocious middle names, it was a good job he decided to go by the acronym.

Our main character is Maggie, a young English woman.

Recently returned from a working trip to Europe to find her mother has passed and her younger siblings have been apprehended by the Home Children program.

Her 12-year-old brother, Jack, and 8-year-old sister, Emily, have been bundled up with other orphan children, and shipped across the Atlantic to Canada. The promotion for this program proclaimed that these children would be placed in loving homes. The reality, a bit like our Australian Stolen Generation, was often far from the truth. Jack is forced to work long hours in a factory. Emily is made to be a housemaid, treated unkindly at every turn.

Maggie finds work as a nanny with a retired Army major and his family, who agree to take her with them as they emigrate to Canada.

Here is where the story opens – in the middle of a furious storm that causes their ship to wreck.

Maggie is the lone survivor. She is protected by a wild horse, one of the free-roaming horses on Sable Island. It is weeks before Maggie finds passage to Halifax in Canada. When she arrives she is immediately greeted by a slimy character, Thaddeus Tharaday. She carries the fame of having survived the wreck, and Tharaday apparently hopes to help her find her missing brother and sister. In fact Tharaday has other motives, which are part of the mystery. Instead of helping find the children he frustrates Maggie’s every effort.

[bctt tweet=”I won’t go into the mystery—suffice to say, there is subterfuge, danger, heroism and romance that will satisfy any reader.” username=”acwriters”]

Nola Lorraine has done a sterling job of writing her first romance drama, and I congratulate her on the release of ‘Scattered’.

Thank you to the author for providing a free copy for the purposes of review.