In 1859, women have few rights, even to their own children. When her husband dies and her children become wards of a predator, Martha—bereaved and scared—flees their beloved country home taking the children with her to squalor of New York City. She soon finds herself nearly destitute. The Home for the Friendless, an aid society, offers free food, clothing, and schooling to New York’s street kids. Martha takes the children to the Home for what she thinks is short-term care. Martha discovers that the Society has indentured her two eldest out to work in New York and Illinois via the Orphan Train, and has placed her two youngest for permanent adoption in Ohio. Martha begs for her children back, but the Society refuses. Rather than succumb—the Civil War erupting around her—Martha sets out to reclaim each of them. Based on the author’s research into her grandfather’s past as an adopted child,and the surprising discovery of his family of origin and how he came to beadopted, Julia Park Tracey has created a mesmerizing work of historical fictionilluminating the darkest side of the Orphan Train.
