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House of Orphans
House of Orphans
Nov 17, 2025 11:07 AM

Author:Helen Dunmore

House of Orphans

**FROM THE AUTHOR OF INSIDE THE WAVE, THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017**

Finland, 1902, and the Russian Empire enforces a brutal policy to destroy Finland's freedom and force its people into submission.

Eeva, orphaned daughter of a failed revolutionary, also battles to find her independence and identity. Destitute when her father dies, she is sent away to a country orphanage, and then employed as servant to a widowed doctor, Thomas Eklund. Slowly, Thomas falls in love with Eeva . . . but she has committed herself long ago to a boy from her childhood, Lauri, who is now caught up in Helsinki's turmoil of resistance to Russian rule.

Set in dangerous, unfamiliar times which strangely echo our own, the story reveals how terrorism lies hidden within ordinary life, as rulers struggle to hold on to power. House of Orphans is a rich, brilliant story of love, history and change.

House of Orphans is bestselling author Helen Dunmore's ninth novel.

'Vivid and exciting . . . Dunmore creates a beautiful sense of stillness . . . she conveys a passion for Finland's icy landscape' Observer

'Part love story, part tragedy . . . Dunmore on dazzling form. Everyone should read her work' Independent on Sunday

'Outstanding, a sheer pleasure to read. Dunmore is a remarkable storyteller' Daily Mail

Helen Dunmore is the author of twelve novels: Zennor in Darkness, which won the McKitterick Prize; Burning Bright; A Spell of Winter, which won the Orange Prize; Talking to the Dead; Your Blue-Eyed Boy; With Your Crooked Heart; The Siege, which was shortlisted for the 2001 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award and for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2002; Mourning Ruby; House of Orphans; Counting the Stars; The Betrayal, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2010, and The Greatcoat. She is also a poet, children's novelist and short-story writer.

Reviews

Outstanding, a sheer pleasure to read. Dunmore is a remarkable storyteller

—— Daily Mail

Part love story, part tragedy . . . Dunmore on dazzling form. Everyone should read her work

—— Independent on Sunday

Every character is richly drawn and makes for compelling reading ... top-quality fiction

—— Daily Express

Richly ambitious . . . there isn't a dull page. A remarkable achievement

—— Scotsman

Extraordinary . . . combines a luminous delicacy of observation with raw emotional power to haunting effect

—— Sunday Telegraph

Vivid and exciting . . . Dunmore creates a beautiful sense of stillness . . . she conveys a passion for Finland's icy landscape

—— Observer

Beautifully written . . . a story about us all

—— Evening Standard

A very human and profoundly moving introduction to one of the darkest moments in history.

—— The Good Book Guide

Seven Lies...has a way of enlarging the spirit and refreshing the mind far more comprehensively than many books with twice its 200 pages

—— James Buchan , Guardian

[T]his seems to be an artful evocation of the effect of totalitarianism on the individual. But if this sounds drably psychological, I am doing the novel a disservice: it is short, intense, powerful and superbly crafted

—— Chris Power , The Times

Intricately plotted and structured, its prose both elegant and poised, Seven Lies could be read as a fable about the political and spiritual corruption endemic in a totalitarian state. It is, however, very much concerned with the human cost of deception and betrayal

—— Tim Parks , Sunday Times

A brilliant and darkly funny tale of politics and paranoia

—— Christina Patterson , Independent

A must-read for empty nesters ... this is Trollope at her most poignant

—— Guernsey Now
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