Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Black Country #3

The Lost Sisters

Rate this book

Orpha Buchanan and Peg Meriweather had a very different start in life. Orpha surrounded by wealth and riches, Peg dumped on a doorstep as a baby with nothing to her name but a scruffy blanket and tatty clothes. But one thing they had in common from their very first day, was a mother who despised them and wished them gone.

Hortense Buchanan wasn't made to be a mother. Bullied herself when she was a child, she continues the tradition with her own children, loving money and finery more than her own flesh and blood. When her daughter Orpha runs away from home, Hortense celebrates, never once worrying for her safety.

Circumstances bring Orpha and Peg together, and before long they're as close as family, making their way in the hustle and bustle of a booming Birmingham and the smoke-filled Black Country. But before long, Hortense realises that her daughter stands in the way of the one thing she really cares about, and the bitter legacy of the Buchanans looks set to destroy them all...

442 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2017

623 people are currently reading
150 people want to read

About the author

Lindsey Hutchinson

30 books89 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
783 (58%)
4 stars
332 (25%)
3 stars
133 (10%)
2 stars
46 (3%)
1 star
34 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
Profile Image for ReadAlongWithSue ★⋆. ࿐࿔catching up.
2,892 reviews433 followers
September 16, 2017
Abel, Hortense, Orpha and Peg.

Then later comes Ashley.

Hortense married Abel for his money that's for sure. She didn't want children to complicate things and inherit any of his wealth. She had her firstborn daughter, she got rid of her in usual circumstances.
The author really teases you to what may happen with those circumstance later down the line.

Then there is her other daughter who she treats terrible, but Abel dotes on her.
He obviously is going to dote on her after all, his first daughter was taken by gypsy's.

Hortense is really nasty to Orpha, near to abuse, she makes her leave the house and says she will kill her if she returns.
What will Abel do now.

His wife just wants to inherit the wealth and doesn't want anyone to get in the way no matter what she has to do or crime she has to commit along the way.

This is a powerful read which I wasn't expecting going from the cover, it was a really good surprise to me as this has everything in it, mystery, crime, secrets and lies.

My thanks to Bookoutour and Net Galley for my copy

 photo THE LOST SISTERS BLOG TOUR 1.png
Profile Image for Booklover BEV.
1,728 reviews52 followers
September 30, 2017
Loved it

A very enjoyable read. A heart warming saga bringing lost family back together. Lots of twists all the way through. And I never expected the ending and loved it. So look forward to this author's next book and hope its as good as her last three.
Profile Image for Kristina Anderson.
4,060 reviews82 followers
October 27, 2017
The Lost Sisters takes readers back to 1897 in the Black Country. Orpha Buchanan is being abused by her stepmother, but she is afraid to tell her loving father. Orpha ends up tossed out of her home and made to find her own way. Luckily, Orpha ends up being taken in by Ezzie Lucas and his mum, Edna on their boat "The Sunshine". We follow Orpha as she finds her way in the world and discovers an unexpected bonus.

The Lost Sisters is well-written and interesting. It could use some editing. I found the story to be a little too long. I felt the book needed an epilogue to show readers how everyone turned out (it would have been satisfying). There are nice, strong female characters and a good mystery. The author captured the era (even mentions Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee) and place. It was interesting to discover more about canal people. Overall, I enjoyed The Lost Sisters and look forward to reading more books by this author. My rating for The Lost Sisters is 4 out of 5 stars.
Profile Image for Linda.
22 reviews1 follower
October 13, 2017
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. Only on word to sum this book up BRILLIANT one of them books you can't put down.
Profile Image for Elite Group.
3,112 reviews53 followers
October 9, 2017
Interesting story, well-written but just too many incredible coincidences.

I enjoyed reading this book. The story was interesting and the description of The Black Country around 1897 was very well depicted.

Orpha Buchanan is 14 years old and living with her parents when her mother, Hortense, decides to throw her out of the home and tells her to never come back. We then discover that she has an older sister, Eugenie, who Hortense had abandoned on a doorstep many years before. Her husband, Abel, is distraught about losing both his daughters but cannot prove that Hortense is the person responsible.

Orpha, quite by chance, whilst wandering around a market in Wolverhampton, searching for work, sees a girl on one of the stalls who is her double. She introduces herself as Peg Meriwether but is so taken by the likeness between herself and Orpha that she offers her a home and their business of making chocolate is soon established. They soon discover that they are in fact sisters.

Meanwhile, in Birmingham, we are introduced to another Buchanan lookalike but this time it is a boy, Zachariah Buchanan. Abel has been living part-time with another woman, his real love, Mahuda, and has had a son with her.

In time, the whole family are reunited but Hortense is determined that their happiness will be short-lived and attempts to destroy both her daughters, her husband’s illegitimate son and her husband.

Although I enjoyed this book there were just too many coincidences for it to ring true for me. The way the sisters meet up despite the thousands of people that they could have met; the way Hortense, on discovering the existence of Zachariah, manages to meet up with him again on the next day in a city the size of Birmingham just takes away from the plot for me.

I also found it incredible that despite Hortense burning down two houses, sinking a boat, stealing jewels from her husband and attempting to kill her own daughter, she never gets apprehended by the police.

This is what made me decide to give this book 4 stars instead of 5. I enjoyed every other aspect of this book and would like to read more by this author.

Dexter

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review
Profile Image for Bethany Swafford.
Author 48 books90 followers
August 12, 2017
When her cruel, abusive mother throws her out, fourteen year old Orpha must make her own way in the world. Though at first she is met with the harshness of the world, she encounters friendly people who take her in. Will she ever be reunited with her family?

I'm going to be honest, this book was impossible to take seriously. From the start, this fourteen year old girl has non-stop luck. A kindly young man and his mother take her in, another family allows her to stay with them and teach her a trade, which she then uses to build her own business. Nothing she does ever fails, and thus I could not relate with her.

The motivation behind her mother's actions was equally difficult to comprehend. In the beginning there is a single paragraph that says her own mother abused her and that she was glad to be in that position. But it's not mentioned again. How did she get away with everything she did?

The book also moves at a very fast pace, presumably to cover every point the author thought necessary for the plot. We also jump around from person to person: Orpha, her father, her mother, the servants, random people she meets. It makes it difficult to read and the progression of time is impossible to follow. We are told many things but not allowed to experience it at all.

Overall, I was not impressed by the style of this book. Perhaps there are readers who do enjoy this author's works, but I'm afraid I am not one of them.

I received a copy through NetGalley for reviewing purposes.
Profile Image for Alison.
878 reviews68 followers
September 11, 2017
I enjoy a great family saga, something long and substantial enough to get your teeth into and really get to know the characters. The Lost Sisters is an historical novel set around Victorian times.

Hortense Buchanan is an abominable woman, unfit to be a mother she concocts a story to dispose of one child saying baby Peg was whisked away by the ‘gypsies’ her other daughter Orpha has a miserable life of abuse which her father Abel never seems to witness. At fourteen Orpha gets chucked out by her mother and told not to come back.

Most girls that age especially during that era would end up in a workhouse but luck is on Orpha’s side, she finds refuge with a kindly family and life improves. Due to circumstances her and Peg meet and are reunited.

More intrigue revolves around Abel, with his distinctive good looks and bright eyes it soon becomes apparent he is a father in more ways than one. Living a double life brings nothing but trouble.

Hortense seeks wealth and luxury at any cost which will reveal further secrets. This a busy book, quite a few people involved and some far-fetched situations. I wasn’t overly drawn to any of them but I did have an instant dislike to Hortense.

Lindsey has written a story that will appeal to any fans who want to immerse themselves into the past, with a colourful family that has more than a few skeletons in the cupboard! This certainly kept me entertained for a while. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thanks to the author, publisher and netgalley for my copy which I read and reviewed voluntarily.
980 reviews4 followers
August 8, 2017
I was very anxious to read “The Lost Sisters” by Lindsey Hutchinson. The story begins with Orpha Buchanan’s mother physically and verbally abusing her, finally throwing her out of the house. Albert, Orpha’s father, obviously has no idea that this treatment is happening to his daughter and she is afraid to tell him. Not only that, but previously and infant daughter was “stolen by Gypsies” as an infant, never to be found. After roaming the countryside, Orpha meets up with Peg and is taken in by her. Lo, and behold, they find that they are sisters. Peg is the long lost infant. Although I admired the ability of the author to conjure up these instances, the longer I read, the more inconceivable it became. Hortense Buchanan was an evil woman and how she got away with all she did, abuse, arson, murder…is beyond me. Although I read the book in its entirety, I questioned every new coincidence that occurred. Albert’s inability to see the truth, his apathy in bringing his wife to justice, his “other’ life that was brought to light… just really irritated me. And through it all Orpha becomes a successful entrepreneur. The ending was unbelievable. I’m sorry, but I would not recommend this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley.com and was under no obligation to post a review. You can read this review on my blog at http://wp.me/p2pjIt-rR. Check out other book reviews at http://imhookedonbooks.wordpress.com.
Profile Image for Laurie.
117 reviews22 followers
August 12, 2017
3.5/5 Stars.

This was a lovely story about a young girl who overcomes everything stacked against her during Victorian times. It's quite well written.

I enjoyed the main characters of Orpha and Peg. There could of been a little bit more character development with them giving them a bit more depth. I liked that Orpha seemed to be successful in everything she did but that would have been extremely rare back then, so I found it a bit too Mary Poppins in a way. Hortense on the other hand fit the bill of a villain perfectly, as did Ashley, but I felt that Ashley was not necessary to the story and that he was just there to lengthen the story.

The ending was interesting and I enjoyed the character of Simmons throughout the storyline which does tie into the ending and I liked that, but I also found that the ending seemed to be tied up to tidily for me.

I really did enjoy the story and if you like a mostly feel good historical novel then you will enjoy this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC for a fair and honest review.
Profile Image for Mystica.
1,758 reviews32 followers
October 31, 2017
A rather old fashioned story of tragedy and separation, of a mother who was unbelievably evil and a rather helpless father who had a fine past of his own.

The sisters were the main part of the story and though it came together too smoothly to be true, it was still very descriptive in the telling.

Children from a upper middle class family. The mother abandons an infant almost at birth, that is the eldest. Fourteen years later she does the same to the second daughter. It seemed too plausible to be acceptable by anyone. But it seemed that according to the times, the rich could literally get away with murder. The story goes on in two separate time lines and life times of the upbringing of two different girls. One with plenty of money in the background, absolutely no love and care and the other poor but with plenty of love and attention. Throw into the mix an illegitimate son, a mistress and we have a rather complicated family story.

Though rather far fetched, it still held my interest. The rags to riches story is always loved. Everyone likes a winner.
Profile Image for Sarah Davies.
465 reviews13 followers
August 14, 2017
Orpha Buchanan has been brought up in a privileged background with a father who loves her and spoils her, but with a mean and vindictive mother who beats Orpha and belittles her at every turn.

So at 14 Orpha mother beats her and kicks her out of the family home with nothing and threaten to kill her is she returns.

All this happens without Orpha's dad Abel not knowing a thing.

This is Orpha's story of finding her place in the world growing up and and becoming a very busy business women.

This was a very well written story, which started off very promisingly but the storyline just becomes so totally unbelievable which sadly becomes even more far fetched the further you read into the story!!

I would like to read other Lindsey Hutchinson books to see if the storylines are more realistic or are they all over the top??

Profile Image for Janette.
442 reviews
October 14, 2017
This the first book of Lindsey Hutchinson's I have read and I really enjoyed it. I like a good family saga, although I did find some of the coincidental meetings in this book a little far-fetched. Having said that, the twists and turns of the story drew me in and kept me hooked to the end to see what was going to happen. I really enjoyed the ending - very unexpected.
The characters were well written and believable. I particularly liked the horrible Hortense Buchanan - a great character and really added to the story. How low would she stoop to get some money? some of her actions were truly awful.
Highly recommended. I look forward to reading more of Lindsey's books

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Profile Image for Caroline.
139 reviews
October 2, 2017
An interesting story, although a bit far fetched at times. I did enjoy it though and found the twists and turns of the story kept my attention and compelled me to read further. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction,
Profile Image for Wendy.
136 reviews4 followers
August 30, 2017
I really enjoyed this book, a great family saga that has it all, love, murder and mystery.. Perfect book to curl up with on a rainy day.. Or any other day.
Profile Image for Jane.
23 reviews1 follower
September 15, 2017
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book had me gripped from the start, it had twists and turns which I didn't see coming. Great!
Profile Image for Diane.
951 reviews16 followers
January 11, 2018
Wow a great historical saga. This book had so many things going happen that you didn't see coming. It drew me in from page 1 and I absolutely loved it. A fab read.
3 reviews
October 30, 2017
Unbelievable. Too many anomalies.

Read it to the end hoping it would improve. Not a book I would recommend. Very far fetched. I was disappointed.
Profile Image for Yvonne Walton.
73 reviews
December 11, 2017
Dieselblackcat

What a fantastic read. This is the last of the three books I have read one after another and I haven’t been able to put then down.
Profile Image for Wendy Campbell.
2 reviews
December 18, 2017
Great book like you other two which I enjoyed too Thankyou

Loved it could not put it down ,did not want it to end xxx
A must to read
Great Author
14 reviews
January 30, 2018
Ok

Nothing too exciting very coincidental!!
Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla
Profile Image for Louise Wilson.
3,666 reviews1,690 followers
August 24, 2024
Black Country #3

Orpha Buchanan and Peg Merriweather had very different starts in life. Orpha surrounded by wealth and riches, Peg dumped on a doorstep as a baby with nothing to her name but a scruffy blanket and tatty clothes. But one thing they had in common from the very first day, was a mother who despised them, and wished them gone. Hortense Buchanan wasn't made to be a mother. Bullied herself when she was a child, she continues the tradition with her own children, loving money and finery more than her own flesh and blood. When her daughter Orpha runs away from home, Hortense celebrates, never once worrying about her safety. Circumstances bring Orpha and Peg together, and before long they're as close as family, making their way in the hustle and bustle of a booming Birmingham and the smoke-filled Black Country.

Set in 1897 in the Black Country, life is far from easy for Orpha Buchanan, especially when her mother throws her out on the streets when she was just fourteen-years-old. But Hortense Buchanan actually did Orpha a huge favour, as Orpha thrived and became a successful businesswoman. Her luck started changing when she met Peg Merriweather at the market, and Peg invited Orpha to come and live with her. This is a great family saga.

#KindkeBook
12 reviews
November 1, 2019
Another good book by Lindsey Hutchinson

Lindsey is a very good writer as she has you wanting to keep reading until the end as the story twists and turns its way to a good ending. In this book you learn about two sisters who are treated badly by there mother and how they come through a bad start to go on and achieve a good life.
181 reviews2 followers
February 19, 2020
Lost sisters

When a family lose not just one child a second goes missing at the age of 14.
Abel is at his wits end trying to find his missing daughter whilst trying to keep his double life a secret. With a wife like Hortese is it any wonder he stays away. Life has a funny way of catching up.
471 reviews1 follower
January 10, 2021
A good read about a young girl kicked out of home by her awful mother who lands on her feet and becomes a successful business women.Along the way she bumps into a sister who her mother dumped on a doorstep when she was a baby.The mother is a greedy hateful woman who wants her husband's wealth and will go to any lengths to get it.
Profile Image for Pam.
159 reviews
Read
September 5, 2021
A brilliant family victorian saga it shows the cruel fate the daughter has suffered at the hands of her mother in the end karma plays a fate and orpha makes a positive outcome on the cards she has dealt with in life a perfect happy ending. The females in this novel have strong characters and they are women in there own right.
344 reviews4 followers
July 4, 2018
Well.

Orpha ? What a horrible name.!! Every time I read it it stopped me. She was so scared of and hated her mother that she bought her a house and clothes and food? Seems , a little far fetched.
Profile Image for mois reads .
536 reviews1 follower
October 8, 2018
Sisters

What a great read i was gripped from page 1 Lindsey writes as good as her mam meg i loved the characters well worth reading Lindsey brings the book to life 5 STARS .
Profile Image for chelsie wood.
22 reviews
November 20, 2018
Another amazing read

Wow another amazing read by this author. I would highly recommend it. It was such a page turner. Can't wait to read the next one
90 reviews
September 20, 2021
Brilliant

Another captivating tale which I could not put down. I look to reading the next brilliant tale from this excellent author. Thank you
Profile Image for Lisa Carlile.
342 reviews3 followers
March 12, 2022
This book Is excellent. Full of many twists and turns. Hard to put down
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.