Secrets: The Third Story in the Orphan Train Trilogy
Robert Noonan
iUniverse, Inc.
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9780595436286, $16.95, 2007
"Secrets" is the final book in the "Orphan Train
Trilogy" by Robert Noonan. This book, which begins in the year
1900, continues exploring the lives of the children who had arrived in
Newberry, Illinois on the orphan train. Alternating settings between
Newberry and Galena, Illinois we also get to see what has become of
Hillary, Kate, John, and Biff whose background we learned of in the
first book in the trilogy, "Wildflowers."
This third book is entitled "Secrets" and indeed almost
every person in the book has a secret that only they or a couple of
other people know about. Hillary has the secret about what happened to
her in the mill in Frank Dragus' office. Kate is hiding what
happened on the day when they left Alton, Delaware for the last time to
join John who was forced to flee after being accused of a murder that he
did not commit. Hillary misses her two closest friends in Alton but she
cannot tell them where she is in order to protect her family from the
man that is trying to avenge his brother's death. However,
unbeknownst to Kate and John she enlists the help of another orphan,
Pina, in getting letters to her friends. This action compromises their
secret though and puts them in danger once again.
It was interesting to read this trilogy and to think about how
orphan trains were truly a part of American history from 1854 to 1929. I
honestly do not remember learning about orphan trains in history class
and I am grateful for these books for teaching me about them. I had no
idea that this was the fate for so many children in that era.
Although "Secrets" did not have as many surprises as the
second story "Bridie's Daughter," I enjoyed reading how
all of the lives of the orphans and their adoptive families intertwined.
Noonan does a good job of linking everyone together and forming
relationships among them. Most of the loose ends throughout the trilogy
are now tied up but I do believe that there is definitely room for a
sequel.
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.