My book review of 'The Unadoptables' by Hana Tooke
This is a brilliant, quirky and charming adventure following five children who have been abandoned as babies, left in the hands of the cruel staff at the Little Tulip Orphanage. They are determined to escape this dark world, and make their own way in life to a better future.
It is 1886 and five babies have been left in outrageous circumstances: one in a tin toolbox, one in a coal bucket, one in a picnic hamper, one in a wheat sack, and one in a coffin-shaped basket.
The babies have been named Lotta, Egg, Fenna, Sem and Milou by the gruesome and corrupt matron, Elinora Gassbeek, and declared 'unadoptable'.
But the children are now grown and have formed a strong bond, so when a sinister man visits the orphanage and threatens to separate them, they decide to make their escape.
Celebrating their particular and individual characters, and determined to stay together, they embark on a brilliant and at times terrifying adventure through the frozen canals of Amsterdam, enduring puppets and pirate ships, clock-makers and cruel villains, seekimg the secrets to their past with hopes for a better future.
A brilliant book, aimed at 9 years plus, and I'm hoping further adventures will follow quickly!
