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    Orphan Train: A Novel
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    Orphan Train: A Novel
    Unavailable
    Orphan Train: A Novel
    Ebook369 pages5 hours

    Orphan Train: A Novel

    By Christina Baker Kline

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The #1 New York Times Bestseller

    Now 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 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.

     

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateApr 2, 2013
    ISBN9780062101204
    Unavailable
    Orphan Train: A Novel
    Author

    Christina Baker Kline

    Christina Baker Kline is the author of six novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train as well as A Piece of the World. She lives outside New York City and spends as much time as possible on the coast of Maine. Learn more about Christina at www.christinabakerkline.com.

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    Reviews for Orphan Train

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Molly is a teenager who has been through many different foster homes. Her father died in a car accident and her mom is in jail. She steals a book from the library and has to do community service. The community service is to help an elderly woman clean out her attic. This is where she meets Vivian, who was also an orphan and endured many different foster homes in her youth.Vivian lost her whole family in a fire soon after they moved from Ireland, to New York. Having no relatives in the United States she is put on an orphan train and sent away. She spent her youth always feeling alien and strange and grief stricken at losing so much and having no one to tell.This book tells the story of both women’s struggles as orphans. Both women were abandoned, always seeking the warmth of love and belonging. Full of despair and at the mercy of strangers. Grateful for the slightest act of kindness, but suspicious of everyone’s motives. Never lost fear they would be given away again and have start over. Vivian gave Molly’s community service sentence meaning. Vivian and Molly became close and shared their stories with one another. A very sad and moving book. These two women really helped each other and gave one another a little peace and comfort. My library book club loved it.“It is a pitiful kind of childhood, to know that no one loves you or is taking care of you, to always be on the outside looking in. I feel a decade older than my years. I know too much; I have seen people at their worst, at their most desperate and selfish, and this knowledge makes me wary. So I am learning to pretend, to smile and nod, to display empathy I do not feel. I am learning to pass, to look like everyone else, even though I feel broken inside.” (Vivian)
    • 4/5
      Read for book club. A surprisingly fast read. 17 year old Molly, a foster child, has to help 91 year old Vivian clear our her attic as a community service requirement. In fact she actually helps Vivian sort through her past (almost nothing is actually removed from the boxes) and we learn that, at the age of nine, Vivian was effectively orphaned and sent to Minnesota on an "orphan train" to be fostered by a family there. Vivian eventually settles with a couple that treat her kindly, but has terrible experiences for a couple of years prior to this. I found the novel very moving and it raises questions about identity, our right to our real name, whether fostered children can ever really feel safe. There were some truly shocking moments and I enjoyed the dynamic of Molly and Vivian's relationship. On the other hand, there was something a little unsubtle about it in places; it is perhaps more "women's literature" than the novels I usually read.
    • 5/5
      Great story blending the themes of childhood abandonment as told through the eyes and experience of a 17 year old Penobscot Indian foster child helping a 91 year old Irish immigrant who traveled from NY to MN on the orphan train. As Molly, the young girl, gets her service hours for a minor infringement helping the elderly lady sort through her attic, Vivian, reviews her life and how she got to where she ended up, in Maine. An amazingly quick read, but very hard to put down. I like that the author labeled each chapter with the location and the year. It made the transition flow and you didn't have to guess or spend time figuring out who and what was next. I think it would be good for teens also.
    • 4/5
      The book is two intertwined stories about an elderly woman who was an orphan in the early 20th century and rode the "orphan train" to the west to find a family to adopt her. The second story is about a girl in 2011 who lost her father and brothers and her mother is mentally not able to raise her. And it tells of the growing friendship between the two. It was an interesting book. The most interesting thing was to learn about the orphan trains. I had never heard about them before.
    • 5/5
      This is a story about how the lives of two different women from two different time periods are able to intertwine and bring about change and understanding in both their lives. Molly, a modern day orphan, is struggling with finding acceptance of herself and being loved by others; while, Vivian an elderly woman who has overcome being an orphan is struggling with accepting the life she lived. This is an amazing gripping novel that is great for a mature high school student, secondary classroom setting, or any young adult who is searching for understanding the changes that occur in our lives. It is a novel that embodies themes such as change, love, acceptance, family, and the difference of physical and emotional relationships. The weaving from the two different time periods is flawless and Christina Kline's use of historical background and references brings more depth and breadth to the plot. This makes it a great novel for unit studies such as the time period of the great depression, comparing the lives of individuals from the 1930's to the 2010's, or comparing orphans in literature. This novel is an amazing read that take its readers on an emotional journey. With its various themes, historical background, and faceted characters there is something different that each reader will take away from the book.
    • 5/5
      The precursor of today's foster care system was the Orphan Train on which thousands of orphaned and homeless children from overcrowded Eastern cities during the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries and transported to the Western US to be offered as farm laborers in exchange for room, board, and education. This historical novel describes Niamh's (later changed to Dorothy and finally Vivian) story as she immigrates from Ireland with her family, orphaned after a fire that kills her family in a tenement fire in NYC, and then placed on board the Orphan Train. After two failed placements, she eventually finds a loving family who raises her as their daughter in Minnesota. This story is juxtaposed against Molly's story, an adolescent girl in Maine in the foster care system whose current placement in jeopardized when she steals a book from the library. Given community service, she agrees to help the elderly Vivian clean her attic containing numerous boxes containing life mementos. Each need the other to find their respective way.

      I found the presence of the Orphan Train so surprising that I researched its history and found that the novel was accurate in its depiction. The novel is a thought provoking and touching description of this aspect of American history and its attempt to care for orphaned children.
    • 5/5
      I have never heard of Orphan Train Movement before so this book is definitely an eye opener for me. I love this book. The story goes back and forth from the 1920's, 1930's, and 1940's to 2011. It's a story about the life of the orphan train Irish girl Niamh/Dorothy/Vivian and the story of a young troubled orphan/foster child Molly. A story that knits together the life of the young woman struggling to make sense with her life and a lonely old woman who had been through a lot.

      I love reading about their struggles and survival. Their journey in life and discovering of each other's past and somehow how similar they were, an unwanted outsiders. The yearning for belonging, for family, for acceptance. Definitely, a page turner for me and I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves to read a good story.
    • 4/5
      For the most part, I did enjoy this story about a part of history I knew nothing about. I found the characters compelling, and I wanted to see good results for the children. The author surely tugs at readers' heart strings with all that happens to Niamh. Alternating with a modern story of a foster child, Molly, parallels are drawn between the two, even though their experiences are decades apart. I cared deeply for Molly too, since I have taught children who are part of the foster care system. I did find the coincidences a bit hard to believe at times, especially towards the end. I also felt that the end was very rushed, like the story had to end by a certain number of pages. Things were all too rosy there at the end! I always enjoy learning something new, and I am glad I read this novel and be introduced to part of American history I knew nothing about.
    • 3/5
      Hmm. Well, on one hand, I really enjoyed reading this book. I didn't think the writing was "bad," as many reviewers here have said. I thought it was a pleasant and extremely readable book.

      The reason I'm only giving it three stars is that it is awfully predictable, and awfully... pleasant. The characters are almost too good to be true--the foster child who only wants to be able to cook her vegetarian food, go to school, read the classics, and hang out with her perfectly pleasant boyfriend; the orphan who is good at sewing and running a store and dealing with children, who never does anything wrong, never rebels, and ends up old and wealthy. I'm sure that people like these actually exist, but they don't make for particularly compelling fiction.

      I liked it; I just didn't love it. I'll probably read more by the author, just because I liked her writing style, and thought she did move the story along nicely.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book!
    • 5/5
      The story of a young Irish girl who rides the "orphan train" from New York to a new life in Minnesota. It's told in flashbacks beside the story of a modern-day teen who's suffering the indignities of being bounced around by the foster program. Definitely one of my top-ten favorite reads this year.
    • 5/5
      Interweaves the stories of Molly, a troubled American Indian teen in the foster care system, with that of Vivian, an elderly woman orphaned as a child and put on an "orphan train." I was drawn in by the sad situations both endured (and quite frankly, reminded once again that my life has been relatively pain-free.) I couldn't put it down (and admittedly, it was a pretty easy read.) I'll look for more by Kline.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful story of the strength of children when struggling through the system that thinks it's helping them.
    • 4/5
      Molly Ayer is seventeen and has been kicked around the foster system in Maine for a good part of her life. With her current family, she doesn't quite fit in; her foster mom isn't too sure of Molly and is convinced that she is a bad kid. When Molly is caught stealing a copy of Jane Eyre from the library, she either has to do time in juvie or 50 hours of community service. Luckily, Molly's boyfriend hooks her up with 91 year-old Vivian, whom his mother works for. Vivian needs her attic cleaned out from an entire lifetime of memories. Molly agrees to the project and quickly finds out the she and Vivian share many experiences. As boxes are unpacked, Vivian's memory unfolds and she shares her experiences as a rider on a orphan train, her troubled placements and how they have shaped her life. I love stories that parallel two time periods, so this book immediately appealed to me. I was also very interested in finding out about the orphan trains, a piece of American history that I didn't know much about. With many dual time stories, I am drawn into one story much more than the other; however, I was very much drawn into Molly's story in the present as well as Vivian's in 1929-1943. More than anything, Orphan Train reminds us that family is more than blood and while the past may help shape us, it does not define us. The history of the orphan train was intriguing to me, especially how the children seemed to be used more as a free employee to midwest families rather than a child. I'm sure this was not the case with all, but it seemed to happen to plenty. Vivian's story was surprising, moving, heartbreaking and showed the tremendous amount of strength and character that she needed to survive from being an immigrant to an orphan to an unwanted child. Molly's story parallels some of Vivian's, although Molly did not have nearly as rough a time as a child floating through the foster care system as Vivian did at any point in her life. Molly, however did tend to make everything more dramatic as teenagers tend to do and I would not say that Molly having to deal with her foster mom not respecting her choice to be a vegetarian was at all comparable to Vivian not having food or having to make squirrel stew to survive through the Depression. I would say that some of the characters in the present needed a little more depth to them, I really wanted to know what foster mom Dina deal was. I also really wanted to know what happened to everyone after the ending. While most things were happily resolved, I felt that there Molly and Vivian might have had more to say. This book was received for free from Harper Collins through TLC book tours.
    • 4/5
      Two stories intertwine in this novel that examines the lives of those who are orphaned or separated from their parents and put into "the system". For Molly that system is foster care, where she barely tolerates the people that she lives with. A minor theft (of a library book) lands Molly into legal trouble and she finds herself having to do a community service project. Enter Vivian, a senior citizen with an attic that needs to be cleaned out and a past full of things that she never talks about. Vivian's past includes her experiences as an orphan train rider - where after being orphaned in New York City she was sent on a train out west to be placed with a "wholesome" family. As Molly helps Vivian go through her things both women gradually open up to each other which allows the reader to experience several flashbacks where Vivian tells her story. These parts of the book were my favorites. Vivian encountered some shocking living conditions and people while growing up and I kept reading to see how one earth she was ever going to survive and thrive the many obstacles placed in her path. I definitely found her story more compelling than Molly's, but it was intriguing to have the contrast between how Vivian's situation was handled in the past and how Molly's was being handled in the modern day. That contrast became a focal point for discussion in my book group, so it does add a lot to the book. I definitely recommend this book to fans of historical fiction, particularly if they enjoy stories of young people navigating difficult waters to become successful adults.
    • 5/5
      Wow! This book was beautifully written. I couldn't put it down. It tells the story of orphans in the mid-19th/early 20th c. that were put on trains and shipped to the mid-west to be adopted by families there. Sadly, this was often terrible for the children. This book ties the story of one such orphan and how she takes in a present-day delinquent. I would recommend this book without hesitation!
    • 5/5
      Listened to this on Audio, fantastic. Well written, well read. This is a story for older teens. Uses adult language and situations.
    • 4/5
      This is an incredible, thought-provoking book. Following the story of both a young orphan in the 1920-30's and of young orphan in 2011, Orphan Train is the kind of book that throws history into the spotlight in an interesting and captivating way, and pulls empathy from anyone reading it. Though it has some more mature, honest-in-a-hard-way content, Orphan Train is an absolute must-read.
    • 4/5
      Great story and an easy read, great plot
    • 4/5
      The novel was often heartbreaking, as you expect with this story based on true events from one of the black marks of our country's history. I found it especially poignant in a personal way because my grandfather was one of the "Home Children" who were sent from England to Canada under similar circumstances of the Orphan Train children. So much of it was sad, but it was also permeated with examples of resilience and hope. I really admired the strength of Niamh/Dorothy/Vivian and to a lesser extent the character of Molly. I really had a hard time understanding one of the decisions that Vivian made in particular when she was a woman, yes, I had a hard time accepting her choice. Overall, it was a good book and on plenty of occasions I didn't want to put it down.
    • 4/5
      Orphan Train explores the little known plight of parentless American children who were settled in the Midwest mostly during 1853-1929. The parallel stories of present day foster teen, Molly and orphan train survivor, 95 year old, Vivian works well for the most part. I found the first half of the novel more interesting than the latter. I gave this novel slightly lower marks because I found some portions predictable. Overall, a well told story, obviously researched in detailed and satisfactorily written.
    • 3/5
      A realistic novel, Orphan Train, takes place through the 1900s and into the 2000s.The first story is that of Vivian. Life is hard in Ireland, so the family agrees to get on a boat and immigrate to America. Unfortunately, life isn't much better. When a fire destroys the family, Vivian is considered an orphan. She ends up on a train, which makes pre-arranged stops at locations west of Chicago. Signs have been placed at each stop to show up if they want an orphan. There are no background checks or anything. If you need a farmhand, go get an orphan. Vivian ends up with several families as the novel tells about her life until she is 91 years old.Molly has been placed in several foster homes and now lives in the same town as Vivian. Her foster father is fine, but the foster mother doesn't want her. Molly is used to this behavior, so she's developed a different personality at each location to keep people away. She's learned that trust, love, and faith don't really exist. After getting in trouble, Molly has to do community service. Her boyfriend sets up her hours because he knows Vivian needs help cleaning out her attic. As they are cleaning out the attic, Molly and Vivian form a close bond because their lives are very similar. As they go through the belongs, Molly learns about Vivian's life. Vivian feels that life ended at the age of 20--everything that happened to her happened by then. The rest doesn't count. Molly is good for Vivian. She is as smart as Vivian and feels she can help Vivian.It's a good novel; it's not really what I usually read. Apparently, orphan trains really existed. Overall, I have a hard time with books like this because I don't like an entire life existing in 400-ish pages. They make me depressed that life passes so quickly and then you're old, dejected, and there's nothing to look forward to and your life didn't amount to much. I find this depressing. I did wonder about the idea of fate. How much does fate and personal choice change our lives?
    • 2/5
      Clichee. Hollywood
    • 5/5
      Wonderfully interesting. Loved it!
    • 4/5
      I loved this book - it was such a touching story. I didn't want it to end and I want to know more about what happens to Vivian and Molly. This will definitely be added to my list of books I recommend!
    • 4/5
      I loved the book.two people of different generations sharing a similar experience is overwhelming in parts and engaging all the way
    • 5/5
      This is one of the best books I have read and am I glad! Heart wrenching at times and great story-telling all through.
    • 5/5
      I never knew about the orphan trains so this was a great opportunity to learn.
    • 5/5
      I so enjoyed reading of two unlikely friends who discover just how much they have in common.
    • 5/5
      This is an extremely lovely book. Molly and Vivien are two strong feisty women that seem miles apart, but the strands of their lives weave together as they discover important commonalities. The book also stirringly recreates the experience of the Orphan Train in such a personal way it steps out of history and becomes poignant and real. An Excellent read.