At forty-five, Jane McArdle has experienced her share of life’s twists and turns. Yet she’s shaken by the sudden death of her estranged half sister and the news that she’s now the guardian of her orphaned niece, Lucy.Still nurturing unresolved grief from a marriage bookended by loss, as well as her guilt over her adult son’s imperfect upbringing, Jane is her own worst enemy, content to focus on … focus on her small Michigan farm. Now, confronted with a traumatized eleven-year-old, the prickly empty nester is thrust into motherhood again, unsure she’ll do any better this time.
City girl Lucy is bewildered by aloof Aunt Jane and a new life in rural Michigan. The debilitating phobia Lucy has developed since her parents’ deaths keeps her stuck in this place that’s nothing like home. She secretly plots to run away to live with other relatives. Jane and Lucy must decide if they’ll both endure yet another loss—each other—or if their paths will lead them to forge a new family together.
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Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union publishers for giving me this book to review.
This is a touching story of love, loss and coming together. It’s about different people trying to make it in the US. In a time when so many are being treated so badly this story brings some hope that good still exists in this country.
From NY to Michigan and Mexico. Luch lost both of her parents in a senseless car wreck and had to move from NY to a farm in Michigan with an aunt she barely remembers. She had everything in NY. Living in a big Condo and wearing the best clothes. Having money meant nothing to her. She’s a typical 11 year old girl who’s life is turned upside down. I got very angry at her thoughout this book for being a smart mouthed brat. Then. I would cry with her when she felt her world crumbling again and again. It would have to be hard for a child to understand why things are the way they are, especially an 11 year old who had never had any worries before.
Aunt Jane has loses of her own and feels like she is to blame for them all. She has so much on her plate and then finds out she has an 11 year old coming that she is suppose to raise. She doesn’t know if she has what it takes to be a mother again. She feels she failed as a mother the first time. Her son is grown and in the army. She’s terrified of raising another child now but she knows she has to do what is right.
Lucy is suppose to have lots of money after losing her parents. She should have been a weathly young lady with no worries. But she has so many fears. Fear of grass being at the top of the list. Aunt Jane does all she can to help her get over this fear. Even making steps from a tree that fell on the house for her to walk on to different places on the farm. Neither Lucy or Aunt Jane realize that they need each other so much.
This is a story that will make you cry, laugh, feel hope and wonder what could possibly happen next. Lucy is kind hearted where she appears to be mean. She just needed to grow up some and to truly mourn the loss of her parents. Her mom is Aunt Lucy’s half sister but to them, Jane and Gloria, they were much more even when seperated for many years. Luis was a mexican immagrant who became an American citizen and tried to help his family get to America. Lucy meets several Mexican people at Aunt Jane’s farm and learns so much from them. They all are good hard working people who fear being sent back to a terrible life in Mexico.
This book will definitely tug at your heartstrings and pull you in and won’t let go until you read the very last word. It’s such a good story and I applaud the author for writing such a good story. Thank you for your compassion towards others. For making me feel like I was there.
I had to give it a 5 star rating. It was so good.
I liked this book and thought the author did a good job with the heartbreaking subject of loss. I especially liked that the chapters alternated between the point of view of Aunt Jane and Lucy, her 11 year old niece. Lucy is struggling with the loss of her parents (what 11 year old wouldn’t be?) and feels that she is to blame for the accident. She’s moved from NYC to her aunt’s farm in Michigan where she is surrounded by one of the things she fears the most – grass. Aunt Jane is also struggling – she’s extremely hard on herself for how she raised her now grown son after a devastating loss of her own and feels like she failed him (she seems to be the only one who has this feeling). I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley – my opinions are my own.
“Beginnings come from endings. All you can do is try to hang on to everything so it doesn’t get lost along the way.”
Lucy is 11 years old and living a happy life with her parents in NYC. A fatal accident results in her being an orphan. Is Lucy to blame?
She now must goes to live with her estranged Aunt Jane in Michigan on her farm. A place that has grass, fruit and vegetables and things she has never nor would she ever care to see. How is she going to survive? How will she ever work through her grief and guilt of her parent’s death?
Jane cannot believe that she has become a guardian to this child and feels she is not worthy of caring for Lucy. How will she learn that she needs to “let go” of her own grief and move forward?
This is a story of grief, love and heart. As the therapist tells Jane, “The only way out is through.”
The Orphan Daughter by Cari Noga made me tear up constantly, and yet there was still something missing for me.
The Orphan Daughter tells the story of Jane who is 45 and lives in rural Michigan, and her 11 year old niece Lucy. Jane has been estranged from her half sister Gloria (Lucy’s mother) for years when she learns both Gloria and her husband have been killed in a car accident and dictated in their will that Jane is to take care of Lucy. Lucy is pulled from her life in New York City and sent to live with her aunt whom she hasn’t seen since she was 4.
The book flips between Lucy and Jane’s perspectives and while I usually enjoy when a book does that, I could have done with a little less of Lucy. Even though most of what I read was relative to the story, I still found myself skimming some of her parts when it wasn’t adding anything to the story for me. Apparently I don’t love reading from an eleven/twelve year old’s perspective all that much.
At first I was really enjoying the book, but it kinda dragged a bit in the middle for me. I can definitely tell that Noga is a fantastic writer though, and I did want to keep reading.
The story in itself though is quite sad throughout the book. Jane’s background is sad, and of course reading about Lucy’s situation was sad as well. I lost my mom when I was about 3 so this book hit a nerve for me there and I found myself tearing up quite a bit. I appreciated that the author still ended on a hopeful note though without tying {everything} in a perfect bow.
Final Thought: I would definitely read another book from this author, and I think a ton of people are going to love this book. It just wasn’t a perfect fit for me personally even though I appreciated the story. I would recommend The Orphan Daughter to anyone that finds the blurb interesting and is in the mood for a sad book with a hopeful ending.
The Orphan Daughter in 3-ish words: Heartfelt, Hopeful, & Evocative
The Orphan Daughter is a great story about family coming together during a time of tragedy. I loved Lucy’s spunk and Jane’s determination. The farm life and CSA information was really interesting as well.
The only reason I didn’t give this 5 stars is because I feel like there were too many things left open at the end – I prefer a more definitive ending.
This book brought two people, Aunt Jane and Lucy, together through tragedy. They both had traumatic events that happened to them which causes different issues they have to work through in their own time and ways. I felt that they both had to find a way to forgive….and mostly give themselves forgiveness, which isn’t always that easy. The story drew me in enough that I wanted to see how, after they’re put into each other’s lives, they work through the emotional issues that seem to keep them at odds to each other. I felt Lucy is kind of demanding and expecting everything to be dropped at a moment’s notice to appease her. Aunt Jane is reluctant to stand up to her because of her losses from her past. For both it’s a time of learning what’s important and it’s not always fair what happens in life. It’s a nice story and I feel that love conquers and wins in the end.
Get ready to cry.
I would have given this book more stars if I were bilingual. But I’m not, so a bunch of the dialog I didn’t understand! I really don’t enjoy that in my books. The rest of the story was excellent!
This is my second book by Cari Noga. Like Sparrow Migrations, this story has a young person’s POV as well as adults. Lucy is tossed into very adult situations at age 11 and has to learn how to live her new life. Jane is thrust back into parenthood and being responsible for more than just herself. How they both navigate these new waters is the story. Another book well done. Now I want a tree stump stepping stone walkway…
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I love to read about the in depth psyche of the characters, and I feel that is what the author does here. The complexities of family, friendships, what keeps us stuck in life, lose, is all part of this story and even though it is not a thriller or mystery, it is just a great look at the frailty of the human spirit and what is needed to go on.
Jane McArdle and her niece Lucy are thrown together due to a tragedy, where Lucy is left an orphan due to a car accident killing her parents. Having lived in NYC all of her life, Lucy has a huge adjustment to make going to live with her aunt Jane in rural Michigan on a small farm.
So many issues arise, from phobias, to migrant workers, to relatives in Mexico, to just adjusting to life, for all of the characters. this book kept me wanting to pick it up to see what was going to happen.
Great story and I am happy to see I already own the authors first book, which now I can’t wait to read.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC of this book.
This was a difficult book to read because of the tragedies that the characters experience. But it was also filled with a sense of family and growth…both personally and in relationships. The characters were well developed and you had strong feelings about them (you loved them or you were a little irritated with their behavior). Lucy had a lot of growing up to do. And even though she had experienced a major loss in her life, she was really a spoiled brat. Luckily Jane was the perfect aunt to help her overcome those shortcomings.
The farm life and growing things naturally was appealing. It let you know that the work is hard and there are no guarantees about the crop surviving Mother Nature’s wrath. But you learn so much and see how Jane’s farm affects the lives of many people.
This was an educational ready and addressed many issues…loss, divorce, immigration, friendship, family, neighbors, etc. I would definitely recommend this book to others!
Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
This was an emotional novel! I enjoyed the way the characters’ emotions were depicted and the realistic issues that were portrayed. Jane has been struggling for years with what happened in her marriage and with her son over the years. She spends her days working on her remote farm in Michigan. Then one day she is notified that her half sister has died in an accident and she is now the guardian of her eleven-year-old niece, Lucy. Lucy moves from the city to go live with Jane. Author Cari Noga explores Jane and Lucy’s personal struggles and the interactions between them throughout her novel. She portrays how an older woman struggles with her past and at the same time how a young girl struggles with the changes and losses in her life. This story is about family, friendships, and the bonds they create. It is also about loss, grief, and overcoming these overwhelming events.