Wow! What a read!

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"The Orphan Collector" by Ellen Marie Wiseman
Release Date: 7.28.2020

Pia Lange is a 13-years old German immigrant and lives in an overcrowded impoverished neighborhood with her mom and twin brothers. Her father is serving in the U.S. Army to prove their loyalty to America. During the fall of 1918, the Spanish flu hit Philadelphia. Quarantine signs appear overnight. Schools and churches close. Her best friend, Finn, disappears. When food runs out, Pia leaves the tenement and collapses.

Bernice Groves watches Pia leave the apartment and decides to visit Pia's apartment. When she sees the twins sitting there alone, she decides to take them. Bernice then decides to help Americanize the immigrant children by removing them from their loving families' homes.

Pia awakes and needs to return home. The hospital will not release Pia, and instead sends her to St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum. Pia knows she needs to find her brothers and locate her father. She sees Finn briefly, and they make plans to escape together, but he disappears. Pia is then sent to work for a family to assist with the children. One day, Pia opens the door to see Finn, and they figure out what happened to Pia's brothers and hundreds of other children during the pandemic.

This novel is weaved with survival and stamina. Pia is determined to find her brothers and feels guilt about their disappearance. Well-researched and how timely with the current pandemic.