The Orphan Thief by Glynis Peters (Review by Jillian Tremblay)

In 1940, the town of Coventry in England was the victim of a blitz by the Nazi Party. The Orphan Thief follows the story of Ruby Shadwell who lost her family, way of life and innocence following the attack. At the age of 16, Ruby must learn to support herself and manages to scrape together a new life and build a community in her broken home. This historical fiction highlights the desperation that families experience when faced with an impossible situation and how hope and determination enable people to thrive. It also shows another type of destruction that war can bring; how a confused community with little oversight can become a place for organized crime to thrive and innocent people to suffer even further at the hands of war. “When all seems lost hope still survives and love will overcome.” This is an engaging story, I nearly finished it in on a 4-hour flight. The characters are genuine and their actions are driven by realistic motivations. It is easy to read and did show me a side of war I haven’t often thought about. However, those who regularly read books set during World War II may not find it an entirely unique story and is often predictable with just a touch of harlequin romance, this is where it loses points on the rating from me. That being said, it does not take away from the skill in which the story is told and would be a good entry into historical fiction. At 365 pages and rather large font, this book doesn’t demand a lot of your time, it is a quick read but an enjoyable escape.