The Orphan Collector: A Heroic Novel of Survival During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

by Wiseman, Ellen Marie
ISBN: 9781496715869
4.5 (2)
Availability:
$7.99
Used - Trade Paperback - 9781496715869

Available Offers

Pickup at {0} Out of stock at {0} Check other stores
FREE -
Ship to Me
$3.99 - Get it Oct 11 - 14

Overview

Ellen Marie Wiseman, acclaimed author of What She Left Behind and The Life She Was Given, weaves the stories of two very different women into a page-turning novel as suspenseful as it is poignant, set amid one of history's deadliest pandemics.

In the fall of 1918, thirteen-year-old German immigrant Pia Lange longs to be far from Philadelphia's overcrowded streets and slums, and from the anti-German sentiment that compelled her father to enlist in the U.S. Army, hoping to prove his loyalty. But an even more urgent threat has arrived. Spanish influenza is spreading through the city. Soon, dead and dying are everywhere. With no food at home, Pia must venture out in search of supplies, leaving her infant twin brothers alone . . .

Since her baby died days ago, Bernice Groves has been lost in grief and bitterness. If doctors hadn't been so busy tending to hordes of immigrants, perhaps they could have saved her son. When Bernice sees Pia leaving her tenement across the way, she is buoyed by a shocking, life-altering decision that leads her on a sinister mission: to transform the city's orphans and immigrant children into what she feels are "true Americans."

As Pia navigates the city's somber neighborhoods, she cannot know that her brothers won't be home when she returns. And it will be a long and arduous journey to learn what happened--even as Bernice plots to keep the truth hidden at any cost. Only with persistence, and the courage to face her own shame and fear, will Pia put the pieces together and find the strength to risk everything to see justice at last.

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Wiseman, Ellen Marie
  • ISBN: 9781496715869
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 8.20 x 1.20
  • Number Of Pages: 304
  • Publication Year: 2020

Customer Reviews

Rating Snapshot

5 ★   50%
4 ★   50%
3 ★   0%
2 ★   0%
1 ★   0%
4.5
2 Ratings

0

0% Would Recommend
0 Recommendations

Review Images

Sort by:
Filter by:

  • Good history lesson

    denise t. - 5 years 3 months ago

    Started slow but picked up in the middle after which I couldn’t put it down. Good depiction of the 1918 flu pandemic and all the children affected.

  • The Orphan Collector

    Rebecca Lee V. - 5 years 9 months ago

    Wiseman writes vividly, and at times I felt I was in the room with Pia, whether it was in the dark, damp orphanage or the bright home of the Howards. The characters were alive, and I felt their pain and their happiness. Reading this during COVID, when the numbers are at the highest, added to the anxiety I felt as I read, and for good or bad, it helped me slide into Pia's character. She was so strong and brave for a young girl; I don't think I could have done what she did. She never gave up hope that one day her family would be united. Even after learning about her father's death, her focus was on her brothers. For Pia, until she had proof they died, she had to believe they were alive. That is faith. That is strength.