I wanted to like The Orphan Collector more than I ultimately did, in part because the historical aspects are overshadowed by the ongoing conflict between two of the characters. At the center of the story is thirteen-year-old German immigrant Pia Lange, a girl who is in Philadelphia in 1918 during the Spanish flu pandemic. With her father serving in the military, Pia must help her mother care for her little brothers. When the unthinkable happens, Pia makes an agonizing decision that has lasting repercussions.
Pia has a particular talent that serves her, and others, well later in the book. I found this element to be interesting and did not detract from the story as a whole. The conflict with Bernice Groves took away from the novel, though her grief and decision making deficits did fit the story. The historical fact that children were taken off the streets and sent to live in horrific conditions is thrown to the side for a plot line that I found hard to believe. The fact that Bernice Groves turns her grief into a ruthlessness seemed more like a plot move than a logical turn of events. Overall, the beginning of The Orphan Collector is very powerful, with its descriptions of the pandemic hitting very close to home in these uncertain times. I wish that the author had kept up that intensity throughout the book and did not get trapped by the need for a villain in the story. Pia's journey is compelling, but some elements of the plot kept the novel from being great.
Pia has a particular talent that serves her, and others, well later in the book. I found this element to be interesting and did not detract from the story as a whole. The conflict with Bernice Groves took away from the novel, though her grief and decision making deficits did fit the story. The historical fact that children were taken off the streets and sent to live in horrific conditions is thrown to the side for a plot line that I found hard to believe. The fact that Bernice Groves turns her grief into a ruthlessness seemed more like a plot move than a logical turn of events. Overall, the beginning of The Orphan Collector is very powerful, with its descriptions of the pandemic hitting very close to home in these uncertain times. I wish that the author had kept up that intensity throughout the book and did not get trapped by the need for a villain in the story. Pia's journey is compelling, but some elements of the plot kept the novel from being great.