This week at the Gilpin Library
by Larry Grieco, Librarian
A skilled and masterful storyteller is at work in Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline. This poignant novel is about two women, seemingly as different as they can be, but who share some deep seated emotions and insecurities. The story moves back and forth between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota. The historical context illuminates a long-forgotten chapter of American history – the so-called “orphan trains” that ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest. They carried thousands of abandoned children whose fates would be determined by chance. If lucky, they would be adopted by a kind and loving family, and if not, they might “face a childhood and adolescence of hard labor and servitude.” Vivian Daly was such a child, sent on an orphan train from New York City to a family in rural Minnesota. Many years later Vivian returns to the coast of Maine to live out her life. Her path converges with seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer, the product of a number of foster homes. Molly gets into trouble and is forced to do community service, which takes the form of helping to clean out an elderly woman’s attic – ninety-one year old Vivian’s. Molly and Vivian sort through the keepsakes of Vivian’s childhood, and they find they have a lot more in common than either might have imagined. Kirkus Reviews: “Kline does a superb job in connecting Goth-girl Molly, emotionally damaged by the ‘toll of years of judgment and criticism,’ to Vivian, who sees her troubled childhood reflected in angry Molly.”
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