Book Review: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

This book recommendation goes out to all those children and young adults who are looking for their forever home - one full of love and hope for a better future.

Summary by Goodreads

The author of Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be delivers her most ambitious and powerful novel to date: 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 Thoughts

Orphan Train grabbed me from page one and kept me engaged until the end.  It was beautifully written and I loved how the author weaved Molly and Vivian's stories together - past and present in one flowing motion.  Molly reminds me so much of students I know in our high school.  Too many think they are rough, don't care, and troublemakers of the school.  But, when you get to know them, their stories - movement from home to home, struggles they have faced, dreams that have been shattered, deep rooted feelings of abandonment, it is hard to feel that way about them.  Molly tugged at my heart strings and I desperately wanted to know more about her background and how she ended up facing community service/jail time.  

Vivian's story overwhelming controls the main storyline.  As Molly serves her community service cleaning Vivian's attic, she learns about Vivian's devastating past - the good and the bad. Though difficult to read at points, Vivian's past is what helps her grow into the strong, determined, successful woman she became. Even as I write this post a few weeks after reading the book, I am still overcome by Vivian's life and how she stayed so positive and hopeful.  With school winding down (last day tomorrow!!!!), I know this will be one of the first books I book talk next year.