The true story of 2 year-old Anna, abandoned by her natural parents, left alone in a neglected orphanage.
Elaine and Ian had travelled half way round the world to adopt little Anna. She couldn’t have been more wanted, loved and cherished. So why was she now in foster care and living with me? It didn’t make sense.
Until I learned what had happened. …
Dressed only in nappies and ragged T-shirts the children were incarcerated in their cots. Their large eyes stared out blankly from emaciated faces. Some were obviously disabled, others not, but all were badly undernourished. Flies circled around the broken ceiling fans and buzzed against the grids covering the windows. The only toys were a few balls and a handful of building bricks, but no child played with them. The silence was deafening and unnatural. Not one of the thirty or so infants cried, let alone spoke.
Cathy Glass tells this story a little differently than her others, this time, we get a glimpse of the backstory from the parents perspective before the child goes into care.
The story begins with Elaine and Ian, who cannot have children of their own, organising an international adoption. After many difficulties, they return home to the UK with Anna. Once home, the difficulties continue with not only a language barrier, but also behavioral issues. As the years go by with no improvement, the family falls apart and Elaine feels her only option is to contact social services and have Anna put into foster care. Whilst it was quite interesting seeing this side of the story, and understanding one of the many reasons some children end up in foster care, it limited the fostering side of the story that we come to expect from Cathy.
Anna goes through two foster carers within a week before landing on Cathy’s doorstep. Cathy, being quite experienced, was able to hold her own, although she found it very difficult, and help Anna on the path of learning how to behave and treat others which lead to Anna moving back home with her parents. I would have liked this book to focus more on the time Anna spent with Cathy’s family, even if that meant the book was longer than what Cathy usually writes.
The final chapter: The ending of this book felt like it happened so quickly, with Anna wanting to visit Cathy and her family to apologise for the way she acted 7 years earlier. As Elaine and Ian had removed Anna from care very suddenly, it felt as though we didn’t get as much of an insight into Cathy’s world as normal.
Rating: 7/10
THE FINAL CHAPTER 