The #1 New York Times BestsellerNow featuring a sneak peek at Christina’s forthcoming novel A Piece of the World, coming February 2017.Christina Baker Kline’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel—the captivating story of a 91-year-old woman with a hidden past as an orphan-train rider and the teenage girl whose own troubled adolescence leads her to seek answers to long-buried questions…now with an … leads her to seek answers to long-buried questions…now with an extended scene that addresses the number one question readers ask, and an excerpt from Kline’s upcoming novel A Piece of the World.
“A lovely novel about the search for family that also happens to illuminate a fascinating and forgotten chapter of America’s history. Beautiful.”—Ann Packer
Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan trains ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying thousands of abandoned children whose fates would be determined by pure luck. Would they be adopted by a kind and loving family, or would they face a childhood and adolescence of hard labor and servitude?
As a young Irish immigrant, Vivian Daly was one such child, sent by rail from New York City to an uncertain future a world away. Returning east later in life, Vivian leads a quiet, peaceful existence on the coast of Maine, the memories of her upbringing rendered a hazy blur. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past.
Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer knows that a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvenile hall. But as Molly helps Vivian sort through her keepsakes and possessions, she discovers that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they appear. A Penobscot Indian who has spent her youth in and out of foster homes, Molly is also an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past.
Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, and unexpected friendship.
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The book shows how actions can echo down the generations whether they are caring or ugly. It’s an easy read.
Those novel tells the story of orphans that were taken west. I didn’t know about this bit of history. Fiction characters were very appealing and held my interest.
A other good book from our bookclub never knew such a thing existed
Excellent read from start to finish.
This book has you from the first chapter! It is an amazing story that we all should be aware of
Very well done. Wanted to know how it would end so badly that I stayed up way too late reading! But also very sad as we know these things really happened.
There are so many secrets that make up our culture. Trains filled with homeless crossing the plains so they can be adopted by loving and not so loving families would have never been imagined. A very moving, well written story that lets you in on this tragedy. Recommend it for readers who enjoy historical fiction.
Loved it!
Tragic but never realized this actually happened.
Very good!
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Schmaltzy and predictable (i.e., suitable for a Hallmark movie), but it did highlight the actual orphan trains that transported over 200,000 kids out of NYC to homes (or sometimes more like indentured servitude) in the midwest. Many wound up in Indiana, Missouri, and Kansas. The National Orphan Train museum is in Concordia, Kansas, so we may have …
insightful as I didn’t know about this practice befor I read the book
This book had good reviews before I read it, but felt that I needed to read it because my Grandmother had been transported on an orphan train. She was dropped off at the Foundling Hospital named in the book and ended up in Chicago marrying my Grandfather. It was such a turbulent time and the children who got out were mostly lucky, but better …
This story has only, in recent years, been told. There is tragedy in some instances, but the book is written in a fair type of situation. This idea was, in some ways, poorly thought out, but it worked for some children very well. It is a haunting story and very largely true. All the books that I have read by this author are extremely good in …
Real life story of poverty and real life of many of the poor and neglected.
Loved, loved, loved this book. Could not put it down.
It is hard to believe that orphans were treated like this book portrays. Historically, though, the book is correct. The characters move the story along.
I loved the characters in this book – based on the actual Orphan Train. Fascinating!
My favorite book that I’ve read. Never learned this in history class.