Bella Jones and Kathleen Collins are as close as sisters and that’s how they want things to stay.But fate intervenes. Kathleen’s brothers have disappeared, they traveled from New York on the Orphan Train and nobody has heard from them since. She can’t shed her gut feeling something awful has happened to them. She goes looking for them but is she prepared for what she will find? Twins, Megan …
Twins, Megan and Eileen Doyle have lost so much already. Bella can’t let them travel on the Orphan Train alone. She must confront her fears and deal with her past. Can she keep the girls safe or will they too fall victim to abuse?
Both Bella and Kathleen are tested in ways they never dreamed possible. Will Justice prevail and allow both girls to get their happy ever after? Or is the cost simply too high?
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Hard to get into, so many characters to sort through. The second half was an easy read and built around a subject you don’t often hear about.
Makes us look back at our history and how we treat our unfortunate ones.
Good characters. The story was a little predictable, but still an enjoyable read.
enjoyable
Little bit of a slow start.
Sad but based on true events
So many children homeless and hungry. Surely it was better to pack them on a train and head west – trading their labor for food and housing. Some truly tragic endings for the children and even 17-20 year olds have no control of their own lives. They are poorly fed, poorly housed, and locked in at night so they can’t escape. I wanted to put this down but I just couldn’t. I had to know all.
I did not care for it
I love this series
Just ok
In depth look at what was believed to be a huge benefit to orphaned kids – for some wonderful. Expose to the human condition
I felt like it ended without everything being resolved but loved the characters.
I had no idea this occurred. Very sad that a lot of these children had been placed with terrible people who didn’t want to give them a loving home and schooling but used them as slave labor. They did not follow up on the children to make sure that they were being treated well.
Great read
The story was engaging and the characters well developed.
It is hard to imagine what the children went thru to find a home.
A gritty book that describes the hardships of those outside the margins of society. I enjoyed it..
Great historical information about the orphan trains that ran from New York across the country. They traveled for weeks and months. There was so much tragedy in this novel and so many characters that I found it difficult to follow who was who when it came to all the siblings, relatives and friends. I felt like it needed a cast of characters at the front of the book so that I could refer to it to keep track. Each chapter bounced back and forth between characters, too, so it took me a minute to figure where and who we were dealing with. A bit confusing. All-in-all, it was a great story with heaps of historical info.
I like reading about the orphan trains, but this book is just average. I was a little disappointed since I have read others that are more interesting and were page turners.
Very good read. Shows the seamy side of the good intentions. Glad to see the good ending though not all were so fortunate. Will read other books in the series.