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The Orphan Collector

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
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.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 25, 2020
      Wiseman (What She Left Behind) chronicles the devastation the 1918 flu pandemic wrought on a German immigrant family in Philadelphia. Pia Lange, 13, lives in a sparse Philadelphia apartment with her mother and infant twin brothers, Ollie and Max, while her father, a soldier who enlisted during WWI to prove his loyalty to the U.S., is fighting in Europe. When the flu hits the city in September, killing Pia’s mother, Pia cares for her brothers in their apartment until they run out of food. She then ventures out for sustenance, and doesn’t return until eight days later after falling ill with the flu. Upon her return, Pia finds her brothers missing and another family living in their home. Pia is taken to an orphanage against her will, and resolves to find out what happened to her brothers, holding out hope they are still alive. Wiseman’s depiction of the horrifying spread of the Spanish flu is eerily reminiscent of the present day and resonates with realistic depictions of suffering, particularly among the poorer immigrant population. Historical fiction fans will appreciate Pia and her pluck and determination to survive. Agent: Michael Carr, Veritas Literary Agency.

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Languages

  • English

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