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The Midnight Train Home
An orphan train child escapes a coldhearted adoptive family to join a vaudeville troupe and travel to Texas to find her older brother Sean.
Deirdre O'Rourke and her brothers Sean and Jimmy are sent by their mum from their tenement existence to ride one of the last of the orphan trains west, in the hope of finding a good family. Instead, all three are separated, and Deirdre is placed with a straitlaced minister and his wife, who she soon learns adopted her out of pity. Deirdre can only hope that someday she will be reunited with her beloved older brother, Sean. When at last she finds that he is on a ranch in Texas with a wonderful family, Deirdre longs to be with him, but with no money, she has no real hope of escaping. Then a vaudeville troupe comes to town on its way west. Deirdre convinces the vaudevillians to take her with them, and suddenly her life takes on a real getting to Texas. But along the way, Deirdre discovers she has a greater depth and purpose than she'd expected--and that being on stage is perhaps an even greater pull than family.
Deirdre O'Rourke and her brothers Sean and Jimmy are sent by their mum from their tenement existence to ride one of the last of the orphan trains west, in the hope of finding a good family. Instead, all three are separated, and Deirdre is placed with a straitlaced minister and his wife, who she soon learns adopted her out of pity. Deirdre can only hope that someday she will be reunited with her beloved older brother, Sean. When at last she finds that he is on a ranch in Texas with a wonderful family, Deirdre longs to be with him, but with no money, she has no real hope of escaping. Then a vaudeville troupe comes to town on its way west. Deirdre convinces the vaudevillians to take her with them, and suddenly her life takes on a real getting to Texas. But along the way, Deirdre discovers she has a greater depth and purpose than she'd expected--and that being on stage is perhaps an even greater pull than family.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Erika Tamar
22 books4 followersErika Tamar is the award-winning author of nineteen books for children, including The Junkyard Dog, winner of the California Young Reader Medal and the Virginia Young Readers Award, and The Midnight Train Home, winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for best juvenile fiction.
She was born in Vienna, Austria. In 1939, after witnessing Kristallnacht and suffering under Jewish exclusionary laws, her parents sent her and her brother Henry, ages 4 and 9, away to strangers to save their lives.
They traveled to the U.S. in June 1939 as two of fifty children personally rescued by Jewish Philadelphians Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, a rescue effort featured in the HBO documentary film and book, 50 Children, by Steven Pressman, and supported by documents housed in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
By late August, they were adopted by a foster family and traveled to Houston, Texas, until her parents, Dr. Julius and Pauline Tamar, arrived in New York in November 1939, at which point they were reunited.
Erika tells this story herself in an oral history on video housed at the USHMM.
A lifelong New Yorker, Erika grew up in Washington Heights in Manhattan as the daughter of the neighborhood physician and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science.
She was born in Vienna, Austria. In 1939, after witnessing Kristallnacht and suffering under Jewish exclusionary laws, her parents sent her and her brother Henry, ages 4 and 9, away to strangers to save their lives.
They traveled to the U.S. in June 1939 as two of fifty children personally rescued by Jewish Philadelphians Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus, a rescue effort featured in the HBO documentary film and book, 50 Children, by Steven Pressman, and supported by documents housed in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
By late August, they were adopted by a foster family and traveled to Houston, Texas, until her parents, Dr. Julius and Pauline Tamar, arrived in New York in November 1939, at which point they were reunited.
Erika tells this story herself in an oral history on video housed at the USHMM.
A lifelong New Yorker, Erika grew up in Washington Heights in Manhattan as the daughter of the neighborhood physician and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 10, 2008
Deirdre O'Rourke is searching for a family. Her mother turned Deirdre and her two brothers, Sean and Jimmy, over the to Children's Aid society and suddenly the three are on an orphan train heading west. At each stop families line up to examine the children and choose one to take home. Deirdre doesn't think it will be too horrible, until suddenly the three are separated and Deirdre is taken in by a minister and his wife. It's not what she imagined, however, and Deirdre is deeply unhappy and misses her brothers something fierce. But then a vaudeville show comes to town and she decides to join up and travel to find Sean.
This historical fiction juvenile novel is quite interesting. Deirdre is having a tough time and it is heartbreaking to watch her family get torn apart. The end has a nice postscript on the history of the Children's Aid Society.
This historical fiction juvenile novel is quite interesting. Deirdre is having a tough time and it is heartbreaking to watch her family get torn apart. The end has a nice postscript on the history of the Children's Aid Society.
June 29, 2014
gr 5-7 202 pgs
1927, NYC / West. 11 year old Deirdre O'Rourke along with her older brother Sean and baby brother James are sent West on an orphan train by the Children's Aid Society after their mother gives them up. When they are taken in by different families in different towns, Deirdre is determined to find a way to reunite her family. When a vaudeville show stops in town, Deirdre wonders if she can sing well enough to join the group and head West to find her brother.
Interesting story. Readers who enjoyed "Rodzina" by Karen Cushman will enjoy this book.
1927, NYC / West. 11 year old Deirdre O'Rourke along with her older brother Sean and baby brother James are sent West on an orphan train by the Children's Aid Society after their mother gives them up. When they are taken in by different families in different towns, Deirdre is determined to find a way to reunite her family. When a vaudeville show stops in town, Deirdre wonders if she can sing well enough to join the group and head West to find her brother.
Interesting story. Readers who enjoyed "Rodzina" by Karen Cushman will enjoy this book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews