The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorfer

Susan Rose was born to a Victorian wetnurse. Her father was once a good man, but slowly became more interested in drinking and less in taking care of his family, and was abusive besides. So when she got older, she went into service in the Great House. Most of her brothers and sisters had worked there, including her youngest sister, Ellen.

But Ellen attracted the attention of the mistress, and was soon serving as upstairs maid, which brought her to the attention of the master of the house. This was the wrong sort of attention, and though Ellen believed that the Mistress would protect her, she was soon found assaulted and raped in the stable, and soon after that, she committed suicide.

Susan never wanted to go back, but her father made her. She resolved to always stay away from the master of the house,but became friends with the son. All too quickly, that friendship turned into being lovers, and Susan herself became pregnant. She had no regrets, and left the Great House, for the son was soon to be married.

Her father was enraged, and wanted to know who the baby's father was. She wouldn't tell him even though he savaged her with his tongue and called her a whore. Once again she lived with her parents, but when her baby was just a few weeks old, a woman came to the house for a wet-nurse, and her father forced her to go, being as her mother's milk had dried up.

Susan wanted nothing more than to stay with her child, but she sent money home to her parents for her son's care, only to be told that her baby son had died. She was very upset, but embarked on a new career as a wet nurse, until one day she came back to the great house and met the son again.

He was married now, but his wife refused him her bed and lay with other men instead. He missed Susan, and she felt sorry for him, so she lay with him once more- and once more got pregnant. But this time, someone had seen her, and when she went back to wetnursing, her father sold the babe to the woman of the house, and she gave it away to another couple to raise.

Susan wanted her son back, and was determined to find him, no matter what. Eventually, she tracked the boy down to London, and contrived to work as a wet-nurse to his new mother. But the woman with the child was dangerously unstable, and getting worse as time went on.

Wanting only her son back, Susan had to contrive matters so that she could take the child before the woman's husband or brother could intervene. But how far would she go, and what would she do to save her son?

I picked up this book thinking it was a mystery, and I expected a mystery to develop as I read it. But, disappointingly, it never did. And while it was an okay story, it was rather dull when you are expecting- waiting, and hoping, for the mystery to start.

Otherwise, it was not a bad story, but not particularly one I wanted to read. I did finish the book to see how it ended, but I wouldn't read another non-mystery book like this again. It just wasn't interesting enough for me.

I wish I could recommend this book, but this ended up in only the so-so range for me. It was okay, but my own expectations sank the book when it didn't live up to them, and it just wasn't good enough to transcend my disappointment.