by Janet Elder
First published 2018
The whistle blows at Grand Central Terminal in the late 1880s. An Irish boy and three German sisters climb aboard a westbound train with dozens of other impoverished immigrant children. They are orphan train riders, bound for Texas where farm families will take them in until they reach eighteen. The children know that siblings are routinely separated at different stops along the route. As their train carries them away from New York City, the quartet faces an uncertain future. Their lives will diverge as they are placed with different families across Texas. Some foster parents welcome children with open arms. Others see them as unpaid laborers who should be grateful for basic food and shelter. The four young people must navigate their new circumstances as they grow toward adulthood at the turn of the twentieth century. Their survival is not guaranteed. Their reunion is far from certain. Elder follows their separate journeys through a landscape where courage and hope matter more than blood relations, and where family takes forms none of them could have imagined.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adoption, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, separation-reunion
Setting: Grand Central Terminal, New York City, Texas
Period: 1880s, Turn Of The Twentieth Century
354 pages · Paperback · CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform