For The Sake of Three Shillings

by Sharon Martin

A young child is abandoned in an orphanage. His mother, a prostitute, fails to pay the three shillings a week for his care. This leads to Philip being fostered by a loving middleclass family, the Lillis-Riley’s. It is here that he spends the next two years of his life. When Mrs Lillis-Riley dies of TB, life changes again for Philip. He finds himself back in care at the mercy of harsh discipline and bullies. His struggle for survival has a lot of sadness, but through Philip’s strong character and mischievous personality a lot of humour is found. Philip has a natural talent for art which surfaces many times in the book, but it isn’t until he is a young man that someone notices he has a gift.

377 pages, Paperback

Published September 28, 2021