Review: Orphan Train

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book was great - I think Jo may have recommended it to me. It's about an actual train that used to take orphans from the streets of New York City and bring them to the Midwest to be adopted by families who either wanted children or wanted cheap labor during the 1920's and 1930's. The book follows one particular girl through her journey and the different families she ended up living with, many of whom were abusive, and only one of whom ever treated her kindly as a member of their family.

This story is unwinding at the same time as another young woman in the 1990's is slowly aging out of the foster care system. As community service for a petty crime, she ends up helping an elderly neighbor clean out her attic, where they find the elderly neighbor's history is as one of these orphans.

While some of the parallels are obvious to the reader and some of the plot rather predictable, overall this book held my attention as I rooted for both orphans to find happiness.



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