Ellen Marie Wiseman

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.

The Orphan Collector

altlovesbooks

When my mom comes to me with a book that isn't a biography on a rock artist from the 60s/70s, I listen. I can count on one hand the number of fiction books she's read, and this one has been the first she's ever liked enough to say "you have to read this". She left it behind after visiting me for a week, even. Frugal mom, just leaving a book behind for someone, no strings attached. Wild.

So I listened. Based on the cover art and the title, I thought it was going to be a feel good story about a girl orphaned from the Spanish Flu taking in other orphans and creating a little family. I thought there'd be dark parts, particularly around the flu, but overall uplifting and sweet. I was wrong.

Admittedly the book takes a bit to get going as it sets up the characters. Pia Lange, child of immigrant parents, can tell when people are sick through skin contact, so you can imagine the buildup to the actual Spanish Flu was uncomfortable for her. Terrible, awful, gritty, dark depictions of the flu and loss await you in this book, and if you're particularly affected by the Coronavirus, maybe give this one a pass for a few years. You're also introduced to Bernice at the height of the flu, whose loss of her son and hatred of immigrant families drives her to do pretty terrible things in the name of "saving" the children of immigrant parents. The book revolves around these two characters as Pia searches for answers about her missing twin brothers, and Bernice does terrible things to families for money.

I found myself drawn in pretty completely once the Spanish Flu outbreak begins, and all hope of putting the book down lost after Pia begins her quest/crusade to find her brothers. Once things get rolling, they really get rolling, and it was hard to step away from it.

Mimi

Raise your hand if you actually heard about the 1918 spanish flu before the covid-19 pandemic. Huh I don't see a lot of hands raised. And that's because we don't learn about it atleast not until we need to learn from it. 

While the people in the book are fictional, the story of the pandemic is based on facts. 

I found this story, one of death and loss and fear well written despite the horrors of the deaths and time period it is based in. 

What I loved about the book was Pia's strength in the face of adversity, racism, and innumerable losses. Her bravery and loyalty along with her unwavering love and the fact that she never gave up made this book a 4 star read for me

The Orphan Collector

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