Books & Java

Orphan Train

by Christina Baker Kline 

Synopsis:

A captivating story of two very different women who build an unexpected friendship: 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 questions no one has ever thought to ask.


Nearly eighteen, Molly Ayer knows she has one last chance. Just months from "aging out" of the child welfare system, and close to being kicked out of her foster home, a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvie and worse.


Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.

The closer Molly grows to Vivian, the more she discovers parallels to her own life. A Penobscot Indian, she, too, is an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. As her emotional barriers begin to crumble, Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both.

Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are.

My Review:

Fantastic book. Tragic and sad but not predictable nor wrapped up nicely with a an unrealistic happy ending. Pure historical fiction at its best. I cried through many sections of Niahm's (Dorothy/Vivian) story. Her account of what she had gone through in life after coming to America from Ireland as an innocent little girl of 6 up until she was 10 was truly heart wrenching. Her realization at such an early age that she was nothing more than an indentured servant without the love of a family is sobering. Yet she is a little girl at heart like any girl in any place at any time who simply yearns for the love of a family and the safety of a home. I couldn't put this book down once I started reading. I'm not sure, if like The Book Thief, this is a book targeted at YA readers, but I would definitely place it in the same category as The Book Thief. 

I would highly encourage YA readers curious about a very interesting part of our American history and the short-lived (approx. 75 year) social experiment that came to be known as the Orphan Train to read it. However, I don't mean to imply that only YA readers would enjoy this book. It is beautifully written and is an honestly told story that any reader who appreciates historical fiction would thoroughly enjoy.