My Review of
THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR
By Ellen Marie Wiseman
Published by Kensington Books
This book was an emotionally powerful read with constant intrigue that keeps you wanting to read more. The feelings are so realistic due to living in times quite like the time period of 1918 when there was the Spanish Flu Pandemic. It is ironic how this historical fiction feels like today’s world with the current times we are living in. Usually when reading about the past; it’s so long ago, it’s hard to get a sense of how the characters may feel. But with Ms. Wiseman’s novel you feel every moment and relate to it and feel almost a sense of peace knowing that we have conquered this pandemic in the past and we can again.
The story shows the beauty of the strength and courage of a young girl during these hard times and no matter what she just keeps moving forward.
As the Spanish Flu pandemic hits the poor and overcrowded slums of Philadelphia, Pia and her family try to take caution to protect themselves from from the flu that is killing so many. Pia’s Dad is away at war and so she is left with her Mother and twin baby brothers. She was born with a gift of feeling whether or not someone was well just by their touch. She is frightened by this and tries to avoid contact with anyone. This makes her the target of bullies and leaves her a loner. So when her Mother is killed by the flu, it’s nothing new for Pia to be a loner and do what she must do to try to continue taking care of her brothers.
The neighbor across the street, Bernice Groves does not like the immigrants in her city and isn’t shy to say so. She doesn’t like Pia’s family because they are German immigrants and she looks down upon them. She’s willing to take the Pandemic as an opportunity to send away all orphaned children of immigrants during these times by posing as a nurse.
Whilst in search of food for her brothers, Pia has little memory of losing consciousness from contracting the flu herself and waking up in the hospital and then being sent straight to an orphanage. She’s desperate for answers of where her brothers are whom she left just for awhile to get food but she is told nothing or that they are probably deceased. Pia’s guilt for leaving is killing her inside.
But when a nurse keeps showing up taking orphaned children from the orphanage and she takes quite a disdain to Pia...questions emerge who can Pia trust and will she have have anyone that has her best interests at heart? Will she get a chance to find her brothers? And if she does, will they be alive or dead?
THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR
By Ellen Marie Wiseman
Published by Kensington Books
This book was an emotionally powerful read with constant intrigue that keeps you wanting to read more. The feelings are so realistic due to living in times quite like the time period of 1918 when there was the Spanish Flu Pandemic. It is ironic how this historical fiction feels like today’s world with the current times we are living in. Usually when reading about the past; it’s so long ago, it’s hard to get a sense of how the characters may feel. But with Ms. Wiseman’s novel you feel every moment and relate to it and feel almost a sense of peace knowing that we have conquered this pandemic in the past and we can again.
The story shows the beauty of the strength and courage of a young girl during these hard times and no matter what she just keeps moving forward.
As the Spanish Flu pandemic hits the poor and overcrowded slums of Philadelphia, Pia and her family try to take caution to protect themselves from from the flu that is killing so many. Pia’s Dad is away at war and so she is left with her Mother and twin baby brothers. She was born with a gift of feeling whether or not someone was well just by their touch. She is frightened by this and tries to avoid contact with anyone. This makes her the target of bullies and leaves her a loner. So when her Mother is killed by the flu, it’s nothing new for Pia to be a loner and do what she must do to try to continue taking care of her brothers.
The neighbor across the street, Bernice Groves does not like the immigrants in her city and isn’t shy to say so. She doesn’t like Pia’s family because they are German immigrants and she looks down upon them. She’s willing to take the Pandemic as an opportunity to send away all orphaned children of immigrants during these times by posing as a nurse.
Whilst in search of food for her brothers, Pia has little memory of losing consciousness from contracting the flu herself and waking up in the hospital and then being sent straight to an orphanage. She’s desperate for answers of where her brothers are whom she left just for awhile to get food but she is told nothing or that they are probably deceased. Pia’s guilt for leaving is killing her inside.
But when a nurse keeps showing up taking orphaned children from the orphanage and she takes quite a disdain to Pia...questions emerge who can Pia trust and will she have have anyone that has her best interests at heart? Will she get a chance to find her brothers? And if she does, will they be alive or dead?