The Soldier and The Orphan
Henry, Alastair
The Soldier and the Orphan is a blend of historical fiction, romance, and suspense set in early twentieth-century England that shows how the social aspects of the times impacted a working-class family. Identical twins, Billy, and Tommy Jones, are born out of wedlock in Blackmoor, a cotton mill town in Lancashire, England in 1921. at a time when such a thing was regarded as a disgrace -the sins of the father being visited on the sons. Mary, their mother, is pressured by the Catholic Church to give up one of her babies to a Home for Babies. Neither boy knows he has a twin brother until thirty-two years later.
Written in four parts, one for each protagonist – Mary, Billy, and Tommy - plus a final chapter when the brothers are united, The Soldier and the Orphan follows the unpredictable life journeys of each protagonist as they search for love, truth and their family.