Orphan Train in Around the Year in 52 Books

Nov 03, 2013 Book Concierge rated it liked it

Shelves: concierge, library, survival, racism, strong-women, social-commentary, historical-fiction, abuse, new-york

3.5***

Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer is a troubled teen in foster care, who has to perform 50 hours of community service helping an elderly widow clean her attic in order to avoid going to “juvie.” The two couldn’t be more different. Molly is a Penobscot Indian who has never left Maine, dresses in “Goth” attire and can fit all her belongings in two duffel bags. Vivian Daly is a wealthy, ninety-year-old woman who has traveled and is now living in a large Victorian mansion. But as they get to know 3.5***

Seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer is a troubled teen in foster care, who has to perform 50 hours of community service helping an elderly widow clean her attic in order to avoid going to “juvie.” The two couldn’t be more different. Molly is a Penobscot Indian who has never left Maine, dresses in “Goth” attire and can fit all her belongings in two duffel bags. Vivian Daly is a wealthy, ninety-year-old woman who has traveled and is now living in a large Victorian mansion. But as they get to know one another they begin to recognize that they are more similar than different. As Molly unpacks the boxes, Vivian begins to reveal her history. Orphaned as a child in New York City, Vivian was sent out with hundreds of other children on a train bound for the Midwest and with the hope they would find adoptive families. The reality of their situations was frequently very different from the hoped-for outcomes.

This was a captivating novel made richer, I think, by using two time-lines, allowing the reader to compare and contrast the stories of these two women. At heart it is about the need to belong – to a family and to a community – and how opening one’s heart to making those connections results in a richer life. Molly is at the beginning of her life’s journey and in a few months she will age out of the foster care system and be on her own. She’s an astute observer and she learns much from Vivian’s story. Guarded and abrasive at the beginning of the novel, Molly comes to realize that her own attitude and behavior more than other people’s perceptions or expectations will be what shapes her future.

Kline effectively uses Molly’s Native American heritage in exploring one of the central issues. Her American History teacher assigns the students a project based on the concept of “portaging.” In Women of the Dawn, a nonfiction book, Bunny McBride writes: “In portaging from one river to another, Wabanakis had to carry their canoes and all other possessions. Everyone knew the value of traveling light and understood that it required leaving some things behind. Nothing encumbered movement more than fear, which was often the most difficult burden to surrender.” It certainly makes me reconsider all the “stuff” I have in storage and recognize that letting go of those clippings, etc will not erase the memory of those events.

The novel also shines a light on a relatively unknown episode in American history. My edition of the novel included historical notes at the back on the real orphan trains that, from 1854 to 1929, sent some 200,000 orphaned, abandoned or homeless children from the cities of the East to the Midwest for “adoption,” which frequently turned out to be indentured servitude.
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Mar 18, 2022 Katt Hansen rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical

This book came as something of a surprise. While I was aware of the orphan trains, I had no idea they continued into the 1920s. This was eye-opening, and absolutely heart breaking as you find out what happened to so many of the children who were shipped out of New York with the intention of finding them homes.

This story is told in parallel with another story told 80 years later. While I absolutely loved the story of our orphan (whose name seemed to change often, though she was called Dorothy pr ...more

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May 09, 2013 Gretchen rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2013

Liked but didn't love. I'm bumping it up to 4 stars though, because I think there's a lot to enjoy and to discuss for a book club meeting.

The Orphan Train was a real activity in post Civil War America. The idea was to take young orphans from major cities and give them a fresh start at life somewhere in the mid-west. This novel unfolds the history of one of these orphans.

The framing story is set with 90 year old Vivian and "troubled child" Molly. Molly starts working with Vivian for community ser ...more

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