THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR by Ellen Marie Wiseman

 

 This book is the best one yet by this author and she writes some very good books. It’s such an emotional and touching story. It will leave you breathless. It’s filled with things that really did happen and the young girl Pia was so likable. She never, ever, gives up. I loved her.

In 1918 the Spanish flu hit America with a vengeance, killing so many. Leaving so many children without parents and so many parents without their children. This book is a story of one place where it hit and hit hard. Where children were placed in orphanages after the loss of their parents. Where parents were given children after losing theirs. It’s fiction but will leave you wondering how often some of these things really happened. Reading this during a pandemic in 2020 is a bit scary. But I’m so glad I read this book. It touched my heart. Broke my heart. Brought tears to my eyes many times. 

Pia is only thirteen during the Spanish flu outbreak. She’s scared and trying her best to care for her baby twin brothers. She’s lost her mom and her dad is in the army so she has to do what she can to keep herself and her brothers alive. She leaves to go find food so they won’t starve but falls ill and can’t get back. When she finally does her baby brothers are gone. She will spend the next several years looking for them. She never gives up hope that they are alive and well. She’s taken from the hospital to an orphanage where she begs for help finding her bothers. The worse thing is the nuns in the orphanage seem so mean and cruel. I will never understand how anyone can be so cruel to children. They are our helpless little victims. They are the future. Pia is finally sent to work for a family and her life changes forever. 

Bernice Groves lost her child to the flu. I felt sorry for her for that but she is truly an evil woman who I ended up hating. I never ever, not once, felt sorry for her again. She took Pia’s brothers when Pia was in the hospital. But not for the right reasons. She needed them to help her. They gave her a reason to live. But she was truly a bad woman. She did things that will make your blood boil. She hurt people, children, families. She hated children of immigrants and thought they were less than human. Kind of like some people still are sadly. Bernice is a very selfish person who thinks the only people who count are Americans. Everyone else needs to leave.

This is a very good story of love, loss, death, devastation, heartache, love, family and much more. There are several characters you will truly love and root for. There are also some that you will want to see destroyed. Well maybe want to see them get what they deserve. Being cruel to any child is just unacceptable. There are lots of very kind people though and you will love them and the good things they do. You will cry at the loss of a child and rejoice at the life of another. Yes this is a very emotional book. But so worth reading. 

The author shares NOTES at the end that are so worth reading. It’s very obvious she put a lot of work and research into this book. I think it was so well done and the emotions are so real. It’s just an all around great book. Thank you Ellen Marie Wiseman for writing this story. 

Thank you #NetGalley, #EllenMarieWiseman, #KensingtonBooks for this ARC. This is my review as told from my heart.

5/5 stars and it needs to be more and a very high recommendation to all.