In Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, a rebellious 17-year-old foster kid in Maine is sentenced to 50 hours of community service. She is assigned to help a reclusive 91-year-old woman clear out her attic. Through old keepsakes, the elderly widow reveals her deeply hidden past as an orphan who was relocated westward in the 1920s.
Born Niamh Power in Ireland, the young Vivian immigrates to New York City. After a devastating apartment fire kills her family, she becomes a ward of the Children’s Aid Society and is forced onto an “orphan train” headed for the Midwest. At each stop, the children are essentially paraded before strangers, with many simply being selected for cheap farm labor rather than genuine adoption.
The novel, published in 2013, follows Vivian’s journey through Minnesota. It’s marked by profound adversity and trauma. She is initially placed with the Byrnes, an abusive couple who exploit her as domestic and garment-factory labor. Following the stock market crash, they cast her away. Her subsequent placement with the impoverished, neglectful Grotes ends in a terrifying brush with sexual abuse. After fleeing, Vivian is taken in by a loving, affluent couple who raise her as their own, allowing her to finish her education and start a completely new life.
Meanwhile, in the present-day narrative, 17-year-old Molly is navigating her own precarious position, nearing the age where she will age out of the foster care system. Though separated by decades, Molly and Vivian bond over the shared, isolating trauma of being “unwanted” and lacking a traditional family foundation. As they continue their work in the attic, Molly’s perspective and emotional resilience profoundly shift.
Molly uses her investigative skills to delve into Vivian’s past, uncovering long-kept secrets and tracking down the family members Vivian lost or was forced to give up decades prior. By excavating these memories, Molly provides Vivian with closure. In turn, the elderly woman offers Molly the understanding, familial belonging, and strength needed to confront her own troubled history and face a challenging future. This book starts in Maine in present day, but the story itself starts in the 1920s and has other locations in the U.S.
Bridging two distinct historical eras, the novel explores the real-life historical orphan train movement—which transported over 200,000 abandoned children to the American West and Midwest between 1854 and 1929. Through alternating perspectives, Kline crafts a touching story of female resilience, memory, and the enduring nature of family.