Book Review: Orphans of War

Orphans of War by Leah Fleming
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m not usually a big fan of sagas and I was attracted to this one more for the Yorkshire setting (and author) than anything else. Leah Fleming did a great job of drawing me in with the story of an evacuee facing a new life with relatives far from home. Family is a pervasive theme of the book, with Maddy losing her mother and father but gaining grandparents and a caring aunt, while Gloria is abandoned by her mother and Greg is a true orphan of the war.
The bond that forms between the three youngsters during wartime is threatened by Maddy’s budding post-war romance with a German visitor, and the events that follow have repercussions for the three of them which will change their whole lives. Many of the events centre around the ‘Victory Tree’, the headquarters of their childhood games and later the home of a dark secret.
At times it was a little too easy to guess some of the turns the story would take, but generally this was an enjoyable and thought-provoking story which made the most of its huge canvas.


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