The Only Blue Door
Joan Fallon
Genre: Historical fiction
During WWII three children are mistaken for orphans and sent to Australia as child migrants. We follow their adventures in their new country, the homesickness, the heartbreak when Billy is separated from his sisters and the loneliness of life in a cold and unfeeling orphanage. However Maggie remains convinced that her mother is alive and is determined to find her.
September 1940. Maggie and her siblings are living in the East End of London with their mother, who goes into labour and leaves the children with a neighbour.
In one of the worst bombing raids of the war their home is destroyed and the neighbour is killed. Bewildered and frightened, the children wander the streets until they are taken in by some nuns.
No-one can trace their mother and, labelled as orphans, they are sent as child migrants to Australia.
The novel traces their adventures in their new country, the homesickness, the heartbreak when Billy is separated from his sisters and the loneliness of life in a cold and unfeeling orphanage.
Maggie remains convinced that her mother is alive and is determined to find her.
Based on real experiences, the novel reflects the attitudes of the day towards child migration during and after the Second World War.
