Orphan Train

Orphan Train tells two stories. One of Vivian who was one of the orphan train children, and one of Molly who’s a Penobscot Indian foster child. The story is written in two timelines that intersect. The writing makes it easy to follow, and tugs at your heartstrings. This book has everything I am looking for in a 5 star read. It made me laugh, cry, and had lovable characters with tragic backstories. To me this story emphasized that the elderly have wonderful stories to share if we are willing to take the time to listen. I was surprised by a few things in this book. 1. Most books that involve indiginous cultures focus on issues of drugs, alcohol, abuse, laziness….the list could go on. This book mentioned some of it as part of Molly’s backstory of how she ended up in foster care. I didn’t feel like the author over emphasized the typical stereotypes I’ve seen in other books. 2. The author used real surnames that would be found in Maine. This isn’t something that would matter to most people, but I grew up in Maine. Seeing true surnames made me love the story that much more. If I were to change anything in this book it would be how the foster parents are depicted. I feel the author really leaned into the typical stereotypes you hear about foster parents even though there are plenty of loving foster parents around. This story does have one scene of SA. It also has a slightly spicy scene in it that seems entirely out of place for the story. There is a young readers edition that may be better suited for those that may be sensitive to SA, but I haven’t personally read it and can’t attest to how much it goes into the account. The history of orphan trains is a sad one that many have never heard about. Between 1854 and 1929 more than 200,000 children (they were homeless, orphaned, or abandoned) were moved to the Midwest to be “adopted”. Most of them ended up being free labor for families and didn’t get to be a child.

I promised myself I wouldn't cry. As I neared the last pages of Christina Baker Kline's novel, ORPHAN TRAIN, I could guess what had to happen. Any student of orphan train stories would bet that a popular author like Kline would craft a happy ending. I didn't know who or exactly what was coming round the bend, but I knew it had to be an upper. Sure enough, when I read the last pages, despite my firm resolve, I couldn't keep tears from rising. Of course, I'm a sucker for orphan train books, having written one myself: MAIL-ORDER KID: AN ORPHAN TRAIN RIDER'S STORY. I know the kind of research and perhaps even the amount of work Kline had to do to pull off the orphan train elements in her book. She created excellent believable tales of Niamh, a main character, and the strange families who took her in. But Kline steps out of her time period now and then. Little stuff. For instance, she has Niamh, wearing a pigtail in 1929 but pigtails weren't invented until 1951. She has a minor character, Mr. Post, saying, "See you in a jiff" in 1930. "Jiff" wasn't coined until 1943. It came out of the war. A more overt breech was a statement made by Mrs. Scatcherd, agent for the Children's Aid Society. She said to the children,"They call this an orphan train." But they did not, not in 1929. That phrase was invented by two writers, Dorothea G. Petrie and James Magnuson, in their 1978 novel, ORPHAN TRAIN. The book became a highly successful TV show, and after that, the phrase, "orphan train," entered our language. Mrs. Scatcherd shocked me even more when she prayed to "Mary, Mother of God," asking for benevolence regarding the children. Mrs. Scatcherd, working for the Protestant Children's Aid Society, had to be a Protestant herself, and Protestants never pray to the Virgin Mary. Only Catholics. Picky, picky, picky. I know. If I were to review format, I'd be picky there, too. William Morrow put together a good-looking book. The paper, in particular, is delicious. A generous weight and the ragged edges make the pages a delight to handle, but the margins are much too narrow. Cutting costs, probably. Overall, I enjoyed reading this novel. Kline caught me and drew me through her story, although I sometimes had to backtrack to remember who some of her many minor characters were. At other times, I had to flip pages to determine which of her two main characters I was reading about. You'd think it would be easy to distinguish between a ninety-one year old and a seventeen-year-old. And it is--when they're together in the same chapter. But Kline's chapters move back and forth in time, so sometimes the older woman is a teenager, too. I subscribe to Google Alerts, and receive orphan train items, usually daily. When Kline's book came out, the number of orphan train alerts I received skyrocketed. Most featured Kline's novel. This makes me extremely happy. For years, those of us clustered around the National Orphan Train Complex in Concordia, Kansas, have said to one another, "If only there were some way to publicize the Orphan Train movement so it would be received as an established part of American history." Looks as though Kline is doing just that as reader after reader encounters the orphan train as they race through her novel and perhaps, if they're like me, cry a bit at the end. Christina Baker Kline, Orphan Train: A Novel Orphan Train: A Novel Marilyn June Coffey, Mail-Order Kid Mail-Order Kid: An Orphan Train Rider's Story National Orphan Train Complex at [...]

Hermoso libro con un final inesperado. La historia da muchas vueltas hasta que se encuentran los dos personajes con historias similares.

I still haven’t read the book as I just received it... It is not made properly, the pages are not cut well with rough edges and it arrived very very dusty even though it was in a plastic cover. I think the issue is with the book distributer!

A very moving and very interesting book. Whilst the characters are fictional, the story is based upon true events which have clearly been painstakingly researched. Based in Minnesota, a troubled young girl in foster care, Molly, who has committed a minor crime elects to carry out community service work rather than enter juvenile detention and begins working to clear out the attic of a lady in her 90s who lives in the same small town. Whilst they go through the boxes together the reader learns about the old lady's life from being a small girl in Ireland to the current day, in particular how she ended up being transported to Minnesota from New York as a 9 year old on the "Orphan Train" and what happened to her as a result. We also learn more about Molly's past and it becomes clear that despite the significant age difference the two characters have much more in common than they could have ever thought. The relationship that develops between the two is drawn out subtly but beautifully and despite seeming unlikely at the start is utterly believable. The character development is exquisite. I won't say more as I would hate to give out spoilers but if you want a well written, moving and thoroughly engrossing read with a factually based, completely believable and enjoyable story line you will not be disappointed. I completed the book in one sitting on a very long journey back from holiday and simply couldn't put it down. It even left me wanting to find out more about the Orphan Train from a historical perspective and I will also definitely be looking for other novels by Christina Baker Kline.

This is a wonderful, short read with two story lines which converge realistically making a heartfelt novel both sad and happy as well as entirely satisfying. Maine, 2011 begins the story of Molly and her life in foster care at the tender age of 17, with just less than a year before she ages out of the system. New York City, 1929 takes us back to the recent immigration of the Power family from Ireland. When the tenement burns down nearly the whole family is killed in the fire leaving little Niamh (pronounced Neev) an orphan, homeless and without any other family. Children's Aid decides she should be shipped out west on an "Orphan Train", where some new family will adopt her. The farmers are looking for free labour, so they prefer boys, and those wanting a family look for infants, so nine year old Niamh is the least desirable child for adoptions. You will read as she survives two horrible situations with foster families, until she finds people that truly want to take care of her, educate her and bring her up as their child. Is she so damaged that she cannot except them as parents? Does she take advantage of that education and her foster father's rapidly expanding business? Meanwhile in 2011, Molly gets herself in some hot water and is required by a judge to do some "community service." She gets a job helping a 90 year old woman , named Vivian clean out her attic. The boxes in the attic have a lifetime of memories attached to them. Vivian explains how she started out in life as Niamh an Irish immigrate who was put on the "Orphan Train" in search of a new life with a new family. See what all that means for Molly as you become entwined in the lines of this excellent tale.

Die Geschichte der älteren Protagonistin ist spannend und einfühlsam erzählt. Man kann es kaum erwarten mehr über Vivians Geschichte und gleichzeitig über ein trauriges Kapitel der Geschichte Amerikas zu erfahren: den orphan trains. Interessant ist der Bezug zu heute durch die jüngere Protagonistin, die ebenfalls eine Waise ist. Ein Buch, das sowohl ältere als auch jüngere Leserinnen in seinen Bann zieht.