The Orphan Collector

by Ellen Marie Wiseman

Overview

Instant New York Times Bestseller

From the internationally bestselling author of What She Left Behind comes a gripping and powerful tale of upheaval—a heartbreaking saga of resilience and hope perfect for fans of Beatriz Williams and Kristin Hannah—set in Philadelphia during the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak—the deadly pandemic that went on to infect one-third of the world’s population…

“Readers will not be able to help making comparisons to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how little has changed since 1918. Wiseman has written a touching tale of loss, survival, and perseverance with some light fantastical elements.” 
—Booklist

“An immersive historical tale with chilling twists and turns. Beautifully told and richly imagined.”
—Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling author of America’s First Daughter

In the fall of 1918, thirteen-year-old German immigrant Pia Lange longs to be far from Philadelphia’s overcrowded slums and the anti-immigrant sentiment that compelled her father to enlist in the U.S. Army. But as her city celebrates the end of war, an even more urgent threat arrives: the Spanish flu. Funeral crepe and quarantine signs appear on doors as victims drop dead in the streets and desperate survivors wear white masks to ward off illness. When food runs out in the cramped tenement she calls home, Pia must venture alone into the quarantined city in search of supplies, leaving her baby brothers behind.
 
Bernice Groves has become lost in grief and bitterness since her baby died from the Spanish flu. Watching Pia leave her brothers alone, Bernice makes a shocking, life-altering decision. It becomes her sinister mission to tear families apart when they’re at their most vulnerable, planning to transform the city’s orphans and immigrant children into what she feels are “true Americans.”
 
Waking in a makeshift hospital days after collapsing in the street, Pia is frantic to return home. Instead, she is taken to St. Vincent’s Orphan Asylum – the first step in a long and arduous journey. As Bernice plots to keep the truth hidden at any cost in the months and years that follow, Pia must confront her own shame and fear, risking everything to see justice – and love – triumph at last. Powerful, harrowing, and ultimately exultant, The Orphan Collector is a story of love, resilience, and the lengths we will go to protect those who need us most.

“Wiseman’s writing is superb, and her descriptions of life during the Spanish Flu epidemic are chilling. Well-researched and impossible to put down, this is an emotional tug-of-war played out brilliantly on the pages and in readers’ hearts.”
—The Historical Novels Review, EDITOR’S CHOICE
 
“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.”
—Publishers Weekly (Boxed Review)
 
“Reading the novel in the time of COVID-19 adds an even greater resonance, and horror, to the description of the fatal spread of that 1918 flu.”
—Kirkus Review
 
“An emotional roller coaster…I felt Pia’s strength, courage, guilt, and grief come through the pages clear as day.”
—The Seattle Book Review

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496715869
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	07/28/2020
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	62,304
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Ellen Marie Wiseman is the New York Times bestselling author of highly acclaimed historical fiction novels The Orphan Collector, What She Left Behind, The Plum Tree, Coal River and The Life She Was Given, which was a Great Group Reads selection of the Women’s National Book Association and National Reading Group Month. Born and raised in Three Mile Bay, a tiny hamlet in Northern New York, she’s a first-generation German American who discovered her love of reading and writing while attending first grade in one of the last one-room schoolhouses in New York State. Since then, her novels have been translated into eighteen languages and published worldwide. A mother of two, Ellen lives on the shores of Lake Ontario with her husband and dogs. She can be found online at: EllenMarieWiseman.com

Editorial Reviews

05/25/2020

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. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Outstanding Praise for Ellen Marie Wiseman and The Orphan Collector
 
“Wiseman shows how humans are capable of great cruelty but also great compassion in this ultimately uplifting, compelling read.” – Shelf Awareness

“Especially resonant.” – Good Housekeeping, 25 Best Historical Fiction Books

“Readers will not be able to help making comparisons to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how little has changed since 1918. Wiseman has written a touching tale of loss, survival, and perseverance with some light fantastical elements. Highly recommended for all collections.” – Booklist

“The Orphan Collector is an immersive historical tale with chilling twists and turns. Set during the Spanish Flu epidemic in Philadelphia, this atmospheric novel explores the depravity to which some will sink in adversity, but it also illuminates the strength of family bonds and the resilience of the human heart. Beautifully told and richly imagined.”—Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling author of America’s First Daughter

“Ellen Marie Wiseman has done it again: masterfully recreated a time of crisis in American history—rendering the flu epidemic of 1918 to reveal its devastating impact on families and, most especially, children, who too often endure the egregious actions of amoral adults. The Orphan Collector is a story that relentlessly pursues those intent on committing evil deeds and those who have the courage to defy them. A breathtaking examination of family and social systems.”—Jessica Keener, author of Strangers in Budapest
 
“Wiseman's blistering moving and profound novel, set against the devastating backdrop of the 1918 Spanish flu, hones in on an extraordinary exploration of the plight of immigrants, as two very different women grapple with finding, keeping, and changing their place in the world. Absolutely amazing.”—Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without You
 
“A meticulously researched historical novel that unfolds with the pace of a thriller, The Orphan Collector features a main character, a 13-year-old daughter of German immigrants named Pia Lange, who grabs a reader heart and soul. As the flu epidemic hits Philadelphia with savage fury in 1918, Pia's world becomes a nightmare and she uses every ounce of intelligence, resilience, and instinct to not only protect her family but also stay alive. You will be riveted by this story up to the very last page.”—Nancy Bilyeau, author of Dreamland

“Wiseman’s writing is superb, and her descriptions of life during the Spanish Flu epidemic are chilling. In Pia, Wiseman has created a character that will draw in readers with her courage and resilience. In Bernice, we find the darker side of American attitudes toward immigrants prevalent during the early 1900s. She is truly despicable character, yet horrifyingly beguiling. Well-researched and impossible to put down, this is an emotional tug-of-war played out brilliantly on the pages and in readers’ hearts.”—The Historical Novels Review, EDITOR’S CHOICE
 
“Wiseman chronicles the devastation the 1918 flu pandemic wrought on a German immigrant family in Philadelphia…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.”—Publishers Weekly (Boxed Review)

“Wiseman’s novel raises relevant issues about what it means to be an American and about the forms that anti-American sentiment can take in times of crisis…Reading the novel in the time of COVID-19 adds an even greater resonance, and horror, to the description of the fatal spread of that 1918 flu. The pathos inspired by the sheer scale and indiscriminate nature of pandemic death is almost overwhelming, especially given current events.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
“The author masterfully conveys empathy for the characters…an emotional roller coaster that was eerily similar to today’s events. I felt Pia’s strength, courage, guilt, and grief come through the pages clear as day.”—The Seattle Book Review

From the Publisher

2020-05-04
A young woman endures incredible loss and tragedy, then fights to find her missing siblings and bring a criminal to justice against the backdrop of the Spanish flu epidemic.

September 1918: The war is finally coming to an end. One day, crowds gather at a victory parade in Philadelphia, and soon after, people are dying by the hundreds from the Spanish flu. The danger is particularly high in the overcrowded slums where 13-year-old Pia Lange lives with her German mother and baby brothers as her father fights for the U.S. Army. When her mother dies, Pia must leave the apartment to find food, and she makes the difficult choice to hide her brothers away to keep them safe until her return. Foraging from apartment to apartment in the impoverished, immigrant-populated neighborhood, Pia faints from illness only to wake up several days later in a church hospital ward. Meanwhile, neighbor Bernice Groves finds Pia’s brothers crying in their hiding place and chooses to take them with her. Bernice, driven to the brink of suicide by the recent death of her infant son, is distrustful and resentful of the immigrants who have moved into the neighborhood. At the same time, Pia is taken to an orphanage, at which point things become very Dickensian. Determined to escape and find her brothers if they are still alive, Pia fights to survive as Bernice embarks on a lucrative business of selling orphaned babies to families who have lost children. Wiseman’s novel raises relevant issues about what it means to be an American and about the forms that anti-American sentiment can take in times of crisis; the setting during a pandemic, however, one can assume was less intentional. Reading the novel in the time of COVID-19 adds an even greater resonance, and horror, to the description of the fatal spread of that 1918 flu. The pathos inspired by the sheer scale and indiscriminate nature of pandemic death is almost overwhelming, especially given current events.

A coming-of-age story that hits a bit closer to home than Wiseman may have intended.

Kirkus Reviews