Bridie's Daughter: The Second Story in the Orphan Train
Trilogy
Robert Noonan
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9780595436293, $15.95, 2007
"Bridie's Daughter" is the second of three books in
Robert Noonan's "Orphan Train Trilogy." This book begins
on June 8th, 1899, in an orphanage in New York City where the children
are preparing to ride an orphan train to the Midwest in the hopes that
they will be chosen for adoption. Fourteen-year-old Catherine was one of
the orphans on this train and she was drawn to, and grew close to, three
other orphans that were around the same age as her: Monica, Brian, and
Jason. At the train's first stop in Newberry, Illinois, Catherine,
Brian and Monica were adopted by people waiting at the station.
Catherine was adopted by Bridie MacDonald, a well-to-do woman who had
never married, and Brian was adopted by Tom and Margaret Holmgren who
were friends of Bridie. The people of Newberry had difficulty in
accepting them as most thought that they were bastard children and
shunned them. Despite that hurdle, Catherine settled into her new life
well and grew closer and closer to Brian.
At first when I began reading this book none of the characters
names were familiar and I thought that it was going to be a stand-alone
book with the only tie-in to the previous novel being the orphan trains.
However, I was incorrect in that assumption as the links began appearing
when I least expected them. This novel contained a lot more surprises
than the first book in the trilogy and I read it from cover to cover in
one day because I could not wait to find out was going to happen next.
"Bridie's Daughter" is a definite page turner and
skillfully written. The novel is very thought-provoking in that it
really makes you think about the orphan trains of our past and the lives
of the children who rode them. The author himself is a member of the
Orphan Train Heritage Society of America and his knowledge of the
history of this time period provides for a very realistic work of
fiction. I am eager to begin reading the third and final book in the
trilogy "Secrets."
COPYRIGHT 2008 Midwest Book
Review Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Copyright 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning. All rights
reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.