
Orphan Train
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jessica Almasy
-
Suzanne Toren
About this listen
Orphan Train is a gripping story of friendship and second chances from Christina Baker Kline, author of Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be.
Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to "aging out" out of the foster care system. A community-service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse....
As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance. Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both.
Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are.
©2013 Christina Baker Kline (P)2013 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Exiles
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early 19th-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to "the land beyond the seas", Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: The child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.
-
-
Tragic
- By karis on 11-10-20
-
Before We Were Yours
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Wingate
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, Catherine Taber
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge - until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents - but they quickly realize the dark truth.
-
-
I was rivetted, finished in three days.
- By Lin Cloward on 06-26-17
By: Lisa Wingate
-
A Piece of the World
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To Christina Olson, the entire world was her family's remote farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. Born in the home her family had lived in for generations, and increasingly incapacitated by illness, Christina seemed destined for a small life. Instead, for more than 20 years, she was host to and inspiration for the artist Andrew Wyeth and became the subject of one of the best known American paintings of the 20th century.
-
-
Wyeth's Vision Comes to Life
- By Poppy on 03-04-17
-
The Invention of Wings
- A Novel
- By: Sue Monk Kidd
- Narrated by: Jenna Lamia, Adepero Oduye, Sue Monk Kidd
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees, a magnificent novel about two unforgettable American women. Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world - and it is now the newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.
-
-
If it Weren't True, I Wouldn't Have Believed it
- By FanB14 on 03-04-14
By: Sue Monk Kidd
-
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
- By: Mark Haddon
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone has Asperger's Syndrome, a condition similar to autism. He doesn't like to be touched or meet new people, he cannot make small talk, and he hates the colors brown and yellow. He is a math whiz with a very logical brain who loves solving puzzles that have definite answers.
-
-
A Different View of the World
- By Alan on 05-19-04
By: Mark Haddon
-
How Witch It Is
- Wicked Witches of the Midwest, Books 1-3
- By: Amanda M. Lee
- Narrated by: Aris
- Length: 18 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Hemlock Cove, where the town is magically rebranded - but real witches aren't necessarily welcome. That makes things hard for the Winchester witches - including local newspaper reporter Bay. She's got a persnickety family - wait until you met Aunt Tillie - and a penchant for stumbling across trouble.
-
-
Mixed bag
- By MerylB on 01-08-17
By: Amanda M. Lee
-
The Exiles
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early 19th-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to "the land beyond the seas", Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: The child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.
-
-
Tragic
- By karis on 11-10-20
-
Before We Were Yours
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Wingate
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, Catherine Taber
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge - until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents - but they quickly realize the dark truth.
-
-
I was rivetted, finished in three days.
- By Lin Cloward on 06-26-17
By: Lisa Wingate
-
A Piece of the World
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To Christina Olson, the entire world was her family's remote farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. Born in the home her family had lived in for generations, and increasingly incapacitated by illness, Christina seemed destined for a small life. Instead, for more than 20 years, she was host to and inspiration for the artist Andrew Wyeth and became the subject of one of the best known American paintings of the 20th century.
-
-
Wyeth's Vision Comes to Life
- By Poppy on 03-04-17
-
The Invention of Wings
- A Novel
- By: Sue Monk Kidd
- Narrated by: Jenna Lamia, Adepero Oduye, Sue Monk Kidd
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees, a magnificent novel about two unforgettable American women. Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world - and it is now the newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.
-
-
If it Weren't True, I Wouldn't Have Believed it
- By FanB14 on 03-04-14
By: Sue Monk Kidd
-
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
- By: Mark Haddon
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone has Asperger's Syndrome, a condition similar to autism. He doesn't like to be touched or meet new people, he cannot make small talk, and he hates the colors brown and yellow. He is a math whiz with a very logical brain who loves solving puzzles that have definite answers.
-
-
A Different View of the World
- By Alan on 05-19-04
By: Mark Haddon
-
How Witch It Is
- Wicked Witches of the Midwest, Books 1-3
- By: Amanda M. Lee
- Narrated by: Aris
- Length: 18 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Hemlock Cove, where the town is magically rebranded - but real witches aren't necessarily welcome. That makes things hard for the Winchester witches - including local newspaper reporter Bay. She's got a persnickety family - wait until you met Aunt Tillie - and a penchant for stumbling across trouble.
-
-
Mixed bag
- By MerylB on 01-08-17
By: Amanda M. Lee
-
All the Light We Cannot See
- A Novel
- By: Anthony Doerr
- Narrated by: Zach Appelman
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is 12, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.
-
-
Afraid to Write a "Less-Than-Positive" Review
- By Elizabeth on 08-06-14
By: Anthony Doerr
-
The Nature of Fragile Things
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins, Jason Culp
- Length: 10 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sophie Whalen is a young Irish immigrant so desperate to get out of a New York tenement that she answers a mail-order bride ad and agrees to marry a man she knows nothing about. San Francisco widower Martin Hocking proves to be as aloof as he is mesmerizingly handsome. Sophie quickly develops deep affection for Kat, Martin's silent five-year-old daughter, but Martin's odd behavior leaves her with the uneasy feeling that something about her newfound situation isn't right.
-
-
The Nature of Fragile Things is a 5 star listen!
- By Kathy… send to help my husband to sleep!! on 02-04-21
By: Susan Meissner
-
The Book Thief
- By: Markus Zusak
- Narrated by: Allan Corduner
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's just a small story really, about, among other things, a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist: books.
-
-
Glad I took a chance.
- By Robert on 08-20-11
By: Markus Zusak
-
Winter Garden
- By: Kristin Hannah
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters.
-
-
I thought I made a mistake
- By A. Musser on 11-29-17
By: Kristin Hannah
-
Tom Lake
- A Novel
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Meryl Streep
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
-
-
So incredibly boring
- By Rhonda Morrison on 08-05-23
By: Ann Patchett
-
Orphan Train Girl
- The Young Readers' Edition of Orphan Train
- By: Sarah Thompson, Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Jessica Almasy
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Molly Ayer has been in foster care since she was eight years old. Most of the time, Molly knows it's her attitude that's the problem, but after being shipped from one family to another, she's had her fair share of adults treating her like an inconvenience. So when Molly's forced to help an elderly woman clean out her attic for community service, Molly is wary. Just another adult to treat her like a troublemaker.
-
-
Awesome book!
- By DebDeb on 08-06-18
By: Sarah Thompson, and others
-
The Home for Unwanted Girls
- By: Joanna Goodman
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1950s Quebec, French and English tolerate each other with precarious civility - much like Maggie Hughes' parents. Maggie's English-speaking father has ambitions for his daughter that don't include marriage to the poor French boy on the next farm over. But Maggie's heart is captured by Gabriel Phénix. When she becomes pregnant at 15, her parents force her to give baby Elodie up for adoption and get her life "back on track".
-
-
I couldn't finish this book
- By CindyL on 10-08-18
By: Joanna Goodman
-
The Throwaway Children
- By: Diney Costeloe
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rita and Rosie Stevens are only nine and five years old when their widowed mother marries a violent bully called Jimmy Randall and has a baby boy by him. Under pressure from her new husband, she is persuaded to send the girls to an orphanage, not knowing that the papers she has signed will entitle them to do what they like with the children. And it is not long before the powers that be decide to send a consignment of orphans to their sister institution in Australia. Among them - without their family's consent or knowledge - are Rita and Rosie.
-
-
Depressing book
- By Michelle on 01-28-20
By: Diney Costeloe
-
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
- A Novel
- By: Kim Michele Richardson
- Narrated by: Katie Schorr
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The hardscrabble folks of Troublesome Creek have to scrap for everything - everything except books, that is. Thanks to Roosevelt's Kentucky Pack Horse Library Project, Troublesome's got its very own traveling librarian, Cussy Mary Carter. Cussy's not only a book woman, however, she's also the last of her kind, her skin a shade of blue unlike most anyone else. Not everyone is keen on Cussy's family or the Library Project, and a Blue is often blamed for any whiff of trouble.
-
-
A LOVELY, SAD AND PROFOUND BOOK!
- By Janna Wong Healy on 08-17-19
-
The Orphan House
- Absolutely Gripping and Heartbreaking Historical Fiction
- By: Ann Bennett
- Narrated by: Naomi Frederick
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Jennings knows there’s one place she can go to find some peace and quiet during her difficult divorce. But arriving at her beloved father’s home in the countryside, she finds him unwell and hunched over boxes of files, studying the records from Cedar Hall, the crumbling orphanage in town. He says that hidden behind the wrought iron gates and overgrown ivy are secrets about their family, and he asks for her help.
-
-
The Orphan House
- By Sylvia Sue Wilson on 04-22-20
By: Ann Bennett
-
Secrets of a Charmed Life
- By: Susan Meissner
- Narrated by: Alana Kerr Collins
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Current day, Oxford, England. Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden--one that will test her convictions and her heart.
-
-
Rare 5-Star Across the Board!
- By Imamomof4 on 06-14-15
By: Susan Meissner
-
The Nickel Boys (Winner 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)
- A Novel
- By: Colson Whitehead
- Narrated by: JD Jackson, Colson Whitehead
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elwood Curtis, a black boy growing up in 1960s Tallahassee, is unfairly sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, he finds himself trapped in a grotesque chamber of horrors. Elwood’s only salvation is his friendship with fellow “delinquent” Turner, which deepens despite Turner’s conviction that Elwood is hopelessly naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble.
-
-
Who spoke for the black boys?
- By Darwin8u on 02-06-20
By: Colson Whitehead
Critic reviews
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Orphan Train Girl
- The Young Readers' Edition of Orphan Train
- By: Sarah Thompson, Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Jessica Almasy
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Molly Ayer has been in foster care since she was eight years old. Most of the time, Molly knows it's her attitude that's the problem, but after being shipped from one family to another, she's had her fair share of adults treating her like an inconvenience. So when Molly's forced to help an elderly woman clean out her attic for community service, Molly is wary. Just another adult to treat her like a troublemaker.
-
-
Awesome book!
- By DebDeb on 08-06-18
By: Sarah Thompson, and others
-
A Piece of the World
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To Christina Olson, the entire world was her family's remote farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. Born in the home her family had lived in for generations, and increasingly incapacitated by illness, Christina seemed destined for a small life. Instead, for more than 20 years, she was host to and inspiration for the artist Andrew Wyeth and became the subject of one of the best known American paintings of the 20th century.
-
-
Wyeth's Vision Comes to Life
- By Poppy on 03-04-17
-
The Exiles
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early 19th-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to "the land beyond the seas", Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: The child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.
-
-
Tragic
- By karis on 11-10-20
-
A Family Apart
- The Orphan Train Adventures, Book 1
- By: Joan Lowery Nixon
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1860, life in New York City’s slums is hard and dangerous. For a widow with six children, it is impossible. So when Mrs. Kelly learns of the Children’s Aid Society, she sees a way to provide for her children. They will be sent west on an “orphan train” to families eager for help on their farms. Thirteen-year-old Mary Frances is confused and angry. How could a mother send her children away? At her new home in Missouri, however, Mary Frances is surprised to discover that the kind family provides a refuge on the Underground Railroad.
-
-
Good Historical Story
- By Pamela, Retired Nurse on 03-15-25
-
The Orphan House
- Absolutely Gripping and Heartbreaking Historical Fiction
- By: Ann Bennett
- Narrated by: Naomi Frederick
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Jennings knows there’s one place she can go to find some peace and quiet during her difficult divorce. But arriving at her beloved father’s home in the countryside, she finds him unwell and hunched over boxes of files, studying the records from Cedar Hall, the crumbling orphanage in town. He says that hidden behind the wrought iron gates and overgrown ivy are secrets about their family, and he asks for her help.
-
-
The Orphan House
- By Sylvia Sue Wilson on 04-22-20
By: Ann Bennett
-
Orphan Train Escape
- Hearts on the Rails Series, Book 1
- By: Rachel Wesson
- Narrated by: Ruth Urquhart
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bridget Collins is in dire straits - she needs to get out of New York, fast. With two young siblings under her wing, her options are limited. Her priest sends her as an outplacement agent on the orphan trains that run from New York to out west. With almost 40 orphans under her care, she's relieved that fellow and more experienced outplacement agent Carl Watson is there to guide her. But Carl is dealing with his own trauma and finds it difficult to handle the pain the orphans are dealing with.
-
-
Cheesy
- By Sandy on 11-19-19
By: Rachel Wesson
-
Orphan Train Girl
- The Young Readers' Edition of Orphan Train
- By: Sarah Thompson, Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Jessica Almasy
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Molly Ayer has been in foster care since she was eight years old. Most of the time, Molly knows it's her attitude that's the problem, but after being shipped from one family to another, she's had her fair share of adults treating her like an inconvenience. So when Molly's forced to help an elderly woman clean out her attic for community service, Molly is wary. Just another adult to treat her like a troublemaker.
-
-
Awesome book!
- By DebDeb on 08-06-18
By: Sarah Thompson, and others
-
A Piece of the World
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To Christina Olson, the entire world was her family's remote farm in the small coastal town of Cushing, Maine. Born in the home her family had lived in for generations, and increasingly incapacitated by illness, Christina seemed destined for a small life. Instead, for more than 20 years, she was host to and inspiration for the artist Andrew Wyeth and became the subject of one of the best known American paintings of the 20th century.
-
-
Wyeth's Vision Comes to Life
- By Poppy on 03-04-17
-
The Exiles
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Caroline Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early 19th-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to "the land beyond the seas", Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: The child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land.
-
-
Tragic
- By karis on 11-10-20
-
A Family Apart
- The Orphan Train Adventures, Book 1
- By: Joan Lowery Nixon
- Narrated by: Barbara Caruso
- Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1860, life in New York City’s slums is hard and dangerous. For a widow with six children, it is impossible. So when Mrs. Kelly learns of the Children’s Aid Society, she sees a way to provide for her children. They will be sent west on an “orphan train” to families eager for help on their farms. Thirteen-year-old Mary Frances is confused and angry. How could a mother send her children away? At her new home in Missouri, however, Mary Frances is surprised to discover that the kind family provides a refuge on the Underground Railroad.
-
-
Good Historical Story
- By Pamela, Retired Nurse on 03-15-25
-
The Orphan House
- Absolutely Gripping and Heartbreaking Historical Fiction
- By: Ann Bennett
- Narrated by: Naomi Frederick
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarah Jennings knows there’s one place she can go to find some peace and quiet during her difficult divorce. But arriving at her beloved father’s home in the countryside, she finds him unwell and hunched over boxes of files, studying the records from Cedar Hall, the crumbling orphanage in town. He says that hidden behind the wrought iron gates and overgrown ivy are secrets about their family, and he asks for her help.
-
-
The Orphan House
- By Sylvia Sue Wilson on 04-22-20
By: Ann Bennett
-
Orphan Train Escape
- Hearts on the Rails Series, Book 1
- By: Rachel Wesson
- Narrated by: Ruth Urquhart
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bridget Collins is in dire straits - she needs to get out of New York, fast. With two young siblings under her wing, her options are limited. Her priest sends her as an outplacement agent on the orphan trains that run from New York to out west. With almost 40 orphans under her care, she's relieved that fellow and more experienced outplacement agent Carl Watson is there to guide her. But Carl is dealing with his own trauma and finds it difficult to handle the pain the orphans are dealing with.
-
-
Cheesy
- By Sandy on 11-19-19
By: Rachel Wesson
-
Orphan Train Rider
- One Boy's True Story
- By: Andrea Warren
- Narrated by: Laura Hicks
- Length: 1 hr and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Between 1854 and 1930, more than 200,000 orphaned or abandoned children were sent west on orphan trains to find new homes. Some were adopted by loving families; others were not as fortunate. In recent years, some of the riders have begun to share their stories. Andrea Warren alternates chapters about the history of the orphan trains with the story of Lee Nailling, who in 1926 rode an orphan train to Texas.
-
-
Great short story of a part of our history!
- By Byron on 09-11-13
By: Andrea Warren
-
The Invention of Wings
- A Novel
- By: Sue Monk Kidd
- Narrated by: Jenna Lamia, Adepero Oduye, Sue Monk Kidd
- Length: 13 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the celebrated author of The Secret Life of Bees, a magnificent novel about two unforgettable American women. Writing at the height of her narrative and imaginative gifts, Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world - and it is now the newest Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.
-
-
If it Weren't True, I Wouldn't Have Believed it
- By FanB14 on 03-04-14
By: Sue Monk Kidd
-
The Way Life Should Be
- A Novel
- By: Christina Baker Kline
- Narrated by: Caitlin Davies
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Angela can feel the clock ticking. She is single in New York City, stuck in a job she doesn't want and a life that seems to have somehow just happened. She inherited a flair for Italian cooking from her grandmother, but she never seems to have the time for it - these days, her oven holds only sweaters. Tacked to her office bulletin board is a photo from a magazine of a tidy cottage on the coast of Maine - a charming reminder of a life that could be hers if she could only muster the courage to go after it.
-
-
Simple story
- By Dianna Bogart on 06-09-15
-
The Orphan's Tale
- A Novel
- By: Pam Jenoff
- Narrated by: Jennifer Wydra, Kyla Garcia
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep. When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.
-
-
Sappy and tedious
- By Churchill on 03-23-17
By: Pam Jenoff
-
Before We Were Yours
- A Novel
- By: Lisa Wingate
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, Catherine Taber
- Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge - until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents - but they quickly realize the dark truth.
-
-
I was rivetted, finished in three days.
- By Lin Cloward on 06-26-17
By: Lisa Wingate
-
Allie and Bea
- A Novel
- By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo, Janet Metzger
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bea has barely been scraping by since her husband died. After falling for a telephone scam, she loses everything and is forced to abandon her trailer. With only two-thirds of a tank in her old van, she heads toward the Pacific Ocean with her cat - on a mission to reclaim what's rightfully hers, even if it means making others pay for what she lost.
-
-
If You've Read One Catherine Ryan Hyde...
- By Gillian on 05-28-17
-
The Nest
- By: Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
- Narrated by: Mia Barron
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got behind the wheel of a car with a 19-year-old waitress as his passenger.
-
-
The Nest is a Complete Mess
- By Wendi on 04-13-16
-
Coal River
- By: Ellen Marie Wiseman
- Narrated by: C. S. E. Cooney
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a child, Emma Malloy left isolated Coal River, Pennsylvania, vowing never to return. Now, orphaned and penniless at 19, she accepts a train ticket from her aunt and uncle and travels back to the rough-hewn community. Treated like a servant by her relatives, Emma works for free in the company store. There, miners and their impoverished families must pay inflated prices for food, clothing, and tools while those who owe money are turned away to starve.
-
-
Best book I've listened to all year.
- By Nathan Vidrine on 03-25-16
-
The Home for Unwanted Girls
- By: Joanna Goodman
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1950s Quebec, French and English tolerate each other with precarious civility - much like Maggie Hughes' parents. Maggie's English-speaking father has ambitions for his daughter that don't include marriage to the poor French boy on the next farm over. But Maggie's heart is captured by Gabriel Phénix. When she becomes pregnant at 15, her parents force her to give baby Elodie up for adoption and get her life "back on track".
-
-
I couldn't finish this book
- By CindyL on 10-08-18
By: Joanna Goodman
-
The Throwaway Children
- By: Diney Costeloe
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rita and Rosie Stevens are only nine and five years old when their widowed mother marries a violent bully called Jimmy Randall and has a baby boy by him. Under pressure from her new husband, she is persuaded to send the girls to an orphanage, not knowing that the papers she has signed will entitle them to do what they like with the children. And it is not long before the powers that be decide to send a consignment of orphans to their sister institution in Australia. Among them - without their family's consent or knowledge - are Rita and Rosie.
-
-
Depressing book
- By Michelle on 01-28-20
By: Diney Costeloe
-
Sarah's Key
- A Novel
- By: Tatiana de Rosnay
- Narrated by: Polly Stone
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel' d'Hiv' roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours. Paris, May 2002: On Vel' d'Hiv's 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past.
-
-
Important subject and plot, pedestrian execution
- By Benson on 04-15-10
-
Those Who Save Us
- By: Jenna Blum
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 15 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Trudy, a college history professor, is collecting oral histories from World War II survivors (both German and Jewish). Her mother, Anna, refuses to talk to her, but Anna's story is revealed in flashback. She conducted an affair with a Jewish baker who was summarily killed. Afterward, Anna caught the eye of a high-ranking Nazi officer.
-
-
engaging
- By Taryn on 01-26-11
By: Jenna Blum
What listeners say about Orphan Train
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Susan
- 04-08-13
Fascinating Journey for Two
Any additional comments?
This is a story of a beautiful, empathetic, elderly lady, (Vivian), and a disjointed, hostile, teen, (Molly), who were both orphaned as young girls. Because of a bad choice Molly makes she is indentured to 50 hours of community service which in turn brings her into Vivian's life. Vivian needs help cleaning and sorting out her attic and ends up sharing her early childhood memories with Molly.
Vivian was born in 1920 and when tragedy struck she was orphaned at the age of nine. She was put on a train with many other children going from town to town hoping to be adopted. Some of the adoptions were for the right reasons and others definitely were not. Vivian was adopted by a staunch couple for the main purpose of working in their seamstress shop that was run out of their home. All things changed during the crash of 1929. Not many could afford to have their close mended and the couple had to close their business. Vivian was moved onto another home and so forth........
While Molly and Vivian are going through and dating all of the boxes in the attic Vivian tells Molly her story year by year. It is a sort of cleansing for Vivian and a awakening for Molly that she is not as alone as she thought. Through this process both characters experience unsuspected growth and enlightenment. Their friendship and bond, of course, out last the attic and the 50 hours.
This book is written beautifully and I was captivated from the beginning. The detail and nuances she uses in her descriptions of times, places and people were excellent. It evoked strong emotions and I felt very connected to the characters. The narrative was done very well. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would defiantly recommend it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
103 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cindy Rice
- 05-11-15
Two stories in one
I enjoyed the narraters voices, especially dialogs between characters and making different voices.
I love how this book is two stories in one. They both tie into each other also. You can say it's a book about Niamh. It's a touching story and you are intrigued with what will happen next to Niamh/Dorothy/Vivian. You are secretly hoping she runs away and lives happily ever after.
I cried when Molly did computer searches and her info was a few months to late. I smiled with the ending. I wish the romance with her first husband was longer, maybe another chapter where you could bask in their happiness. I would love a prequel or parallel of mazy's story, or a sequel of May's story. There's potential for Molly's continued story also if a sequel happened.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Elisabeth W.
- 07-11-13
Interesting Topic
I was intrigued to learn more about the orphan trains of the early 20th century after reading The Chaperone by Laura Moriarity. The Orphan Train is compelling, though at times heart breaking, as you learn how the older children on these trains were often viewed as free labor vs new members of adopting families. The story centers around a nine year old Irish girl who is shipped from NYC to the midwest in search of a new home after her family is killed in a fire. The story felt a bit forced and certainly was not the quality of Moriarity's tale, but overall it was a good listen - 3.8.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nina
- 05-15-15
AMAZING! WORTH EVERY SECOND!
What about Jessica Almasy and Suzanne Toren ’s performance did you like?
Narrator was engaging from the first page and having the two made the story even better! Excellent listen!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kaui
- 06-28-16
A recommended beach read: historical fiction lite
What did you like best about this story?
The Orphan Train is a light treatment of a fascinating topic: the mass forced migration of hundreds of thousands of children without guardians (orphaned or otherwise) from NYC to the Midwest by the Children's Aid Society, a Christian mission which believed that instilling Midwestern values in NYC's vagrant children would save them from a life of evil and vice. The element I think I enjoyed most about this book is how the author created a modern-day "orphan" and juxtaposed her with a nonagenarian orphan and had the two women (re)discover family, love and joie de vivre through their interactions. The characters could have been more deeply developed, more finely drawn. But as a light beach read, this book is very satisfying.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- P. Smith
- 06-18-19
a well told historical novel.
I found this story most enjoyable. Though it is a novel, it tells of past history, and current events through a series of well crafted flashbacks.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 03-29-19
Great Journey
It was a wonderful story. I wish it was longer. Easy to follow and good characters.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lindsay Force
- 08-16-18
so good!
I loved the characters. couldn't stop listening to it! the parallels between the two main characters were spot on.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jacob
- 08-17-18
History
Another fantastic story from our rich history. Very interesting , sad, happy bridging the gap from multiple generations. Loved every minute!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tina Braun
- 04-29-18
loved it
This is a great book, I'm so glad that I read it. The story keeps you interested from start to finish.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!