A review by shorshemaach
Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin

5.0

Once upon a time, there was a man called "Thomas Coram" who was a sea captain by profession but decided that his philanthropic interests meant more to him. So he decided to follow his calling and set up a children's home, a foundling home. This was in the 18th century London, where reputations, family name, honor were of more significance than human lives. (Now that is a true story and the Coram hospital still exists.)

Jamila Gavin has woven a brilliant story around this plot. Otis Gardiner, promises his patrons that he will take their children (poor, illegitimate, sick children) to the Coram hospital at London where they'd be cared for, looked after. He takes money from them and along with that they give him their trust and confidence. What he does to the children is ghastly, harrowing, pathetic, despicable! And of course, Gardiner comes back to the families to haunt and blackmail them for more money. But one day his simpleton son Meshak runs away with a boy, an infant. The story revolves around what happened before and after that.

It starts by acquainting us with the terrible truth of Otis' work and by introducing us to his differently-abled son , who does what his father says, obediently in order to not invite his wrath. A mother-less child he is jeered and sneered at and loathed by his father but he continues to hold on, swallowing his father's terrifying truths.

Initially when I started reading I was very apprehensive about the age group for which it is said to be apt. 12+? The gore, the violence - will a 12+ be okay with it? The Captain said "Yes, it is surely apt." And as I read on, I realized why it was so apt. The story introduces a child to severe truths - slavery, human cargo, teenage pregnancy, childhood anxiety, peer pressure, parental pressures, abandonment, jealousy, child deaths. Everything that we try to shield our children from but is the grim reality of the world we live in.

Jamila Gavin hasn't held anything back. She has brought pictures to life with her words. The book is very well researched and the 18th century London is so well crafted for the reader that one gets lost in the woods and the by-lanes. It took some time for me to get into the book, but the last 30% had my heart in my mouth. By the middle of the story I almost guessed how it is going to be - lots of coincidences - but one should not forget that it is classified in the YA genre. And despite me guessing how it would go, I could not put the book down. This is one of those books which will put you in a situation where you look at the last few pages of the book and silently cry out, "Oh My! There is still so much to happen. How can the book end now?"

And that is the only gripe that I have. It ended abruptly. But I am not going to take away any stars for that.

It is a children's book but I do not see why adults would not enjoy it. It is so different from the other YA books with so many lessons embedded in it.