Orphan Train: A Novel
- ISBN-10
- 006243084X
- ISBN-13
- 9780062430847
- Series
- Orphan Train
- Category
- Fiction
- Pages
- 352
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2015-08-04
- Publisher
- William Morrow
- Author
- Christina Baker Kline
Description
From Christina Baker Kline comes a novel about two women: one about to age out of the foster care system, the other 90 years old and carrying both a tremendous secret and a story of a life formed by a part of American history almost entirely forgotten: the Orphan Trains Molly Ayer has one last chance, and she knows it. Close to being kicked out of her foster home -- just months from turning 18 and “aging out” of the system -- Molly should be grateful that her boyfriend found her a community service project: helping an old lady clean out her home. Molly can’t help but think that the 50 hours will be tedious, but at least they’ll keep her out of juvie, and right now that’s all she cares about. Ninety-one-year-old Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine for decades. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are keys to a turbulent past. Molly is about to discover -- as she and Vivian unpack her possessions, and memories -- that Vivian’s story is a piece of America’s tumultuous history now largely forgotten: the tale of a young Irish immigrant, orphaned in New York City and put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other orphaned children whose destiny would be determined by luck and chance. As Molly digs deeper, she finds surprising parallels in her own experience as a Penobscot Indian and Vivian’s story -- and Molly realizes that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life. Rich in detail and epic in scope, THE TRAIN RIDER is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, of unexpected friendships, and of the secrets we carry with us that keep us from finding out who we are.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Orphan Train: A Novel
By Christina Baker KlineMoving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Orphan Train is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, second chances, and unexpected friendship.
-
Orphan Train Rider: One Boy's True Story
By Andrea WarrenDiscusses the placement of over 200,000 orphaned or abandoned children in homes throughout the Midwest from 1854 to 1929 by recounting the story of one boy and his brothers.
-
Orphan Train Girl
By Christina Baker KlineThis young readers’ edition of Christina Baker Kline’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel Orphan Train follows a twelve-year-old foster girl who forms an unlikely bond with a ninety-one-year-old woman.
-
Orphan Trains: The Story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children He Saved and Failed
By Stephen O'ConnorThe true story behind Christina Baker Kline’s bestselling novel is revealed in this “engaging and thoughtful history” of the Children’s Aid Society (Los Angeles Times).
-
Orphan Trains
By Marylin Irvin HoltThis well-written volume sheds new light on the multifaceted experience of children's immigration, changing concepts of welfare, and Western expansion. It is good, scholarly social history."—Library Journal
-
Orphan Train
By Verla KayIllustrations and rhyming text tell the story of a sister and two brothers who become orphans, are taken in, and make a journey aboard an orphan train to separate new homes.
-
We Rode the Orphan Trains
By Andrea WarrenDescribes the journey many orphan children took looking for families and homes to call their own.
-
Orphan Train Escape
By Rachel WessonBridget Collins is in dire straits - she needs to get out of New York, fast.
-
A Family Apart
By Joan Lowery Nixon“Families shouldn't be torn apart!” She stopped abruptly as the picture of her own family flashed across her mind. “I've brought some food.” Jake's voice, behind Frances, startled her, and she whirled around.
-
A Family Apart
By Joan Lowery NixonWhen their mother can no longer support them, six siblings are sent by the Children's Aid Society of New York City to live with farm families in Missouri in 1860.