You’ll be talking about it for years to come!” - Naples Daily News (FL) “One of the most powerful novels I’ve ever read.I am compelling all of you, even begging you, to make this novel your next read. ORPHAN TRAIN wrecked my heart and made me glad to be literate.” - Monica Wood, author of When We Were the Kennedys “I loved this book: its absorbing back-and-forth story, its vivid history, its eminently loveable characters. Kline reminds us that we never really lose anyone or anything or-perhaps most importantly-ourselves.” - Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle “In ORPHAN TRAIN, Christina Baker Kline seamlessly knits together the past and present of two women, one young and one old.

With compassion and delicacy Kline presents a little-known chapter of American history and draws comparisons with the modern-day foster care system.” - Library Journal “A compelling story about loss, adaptability, and courage. Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, of unexpected friendships, and of the secrets we carry with us that keep us from finding out who we are. As Molly digs deeper, she finds surprising parallels in her own experience as a Penobscot Indian and Vivian’s story - and Molly realizes that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life. Molly is about to discover - as she and Vivian unpack her possessions, and memories - that Vivian’s story is a piece of America’s tumultuous history now largely forgotten: the tale of a young Irish immigrant, orphaned in New York City and put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other orphaned children whose destiny would be determined by luck and chance. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are keys to a turbulent past. Ninety-one-year-old Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine for decades. Molly can’t help but think that the 50 hours will be tedious, but at least they’ll keep her out of juvie, and right now that’s all she cares about. Close to being kicked out of her foster home - just months from turning 18 and “aging out” of the system - Molly should be grateful that her boyfriend found her a community service project: helping an old lady clean out her home.

From Christina Baker Kline comes a novel about two women: one about to age out of the foster care system, the other 90 years old and carrying both a tremendous secret and a story of a life formed by a part of American history almost entirely forgotten: the Orphan Trains Molly Ayer has one last chance, and she knows it.

Orphan train author