Attic Child- Blog Tour

Author: Lola Jaye

Publisher: Pan Macmillan 

Publishing Date: 28th April 2022

Many thanks to the Random Things Tour and the publishing team for my copy of the book and a spot on the blog tour. 

Blurb

Two children trapped in the same attic, almost a century apart, bound by a secret.

1907: Twelve-year-old Celestine spends most of his time locked in an attic room of a large house by the sea. Taken from his homeland and treated as an unpaid servant, he dreams of his family in Africa even if, as the years pass, he struggles to remember his mother's face, and sometimes his real name . . .

Decades later, Lowra, a young orphan girl born into wealth and privilege, will find herself banished to the same attic. Lying under the floorboards of the room is an old porcelain doll, an unusual beaded claw necklace and, most curiously, a sentence etched on the wall behind an old cupboard, written in an unidentifiable language. Artefacts that will offer her a strange kind of comfort, and lead her to believe that she was not the first child to be imprisoned there . . .

My thoughts

Well this book packed a lot of emotions! This book is drenched in hope, trauma, loss, privilege, determination and strength and resilience to name a few. 

The story unfolds with Celestine and Lowra narrating from various times and perspectives. 

Listening to Celestine story and plot it was harrowing. His actual identity and name is Dikembe and he is taken from his family by Richard Babbington to live in England. At the age of 10 to see the tragic loss of a parent and then be removed from your family must be a traumatic experience but Dikembe feels to overcome some of these emotions as he enjoys the luxury life style. Nothing can replace your own family and having his named changed to Celestine his enjoyment is short lived when Babbington dies and new relatives take over. The ill treatment of the new family is awful to read and had me in tears. 

Following on in the 1990's we get to learn about Lowra and her story. Lowra's character at times came across cold but I think this signified how her traumas have caused her to build this wall around her and it became her shield and I really liked how this reflected in the story. Lowra goes on an investigative journey with Monty to uncover some truths about the artefacts she finds and what actually happened to Celestine. As harsh as the trip was it was interesting to learn how the pair go about  to gain the origins of the story and putting the pieces of the story together. 

This is probably the most intense reads of the year so far for me.