Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Because the book wasn't available, it was a great listen on audio book! An excellent reader shared the story of Vivian (originally Neve), currently a 91 year old living in Maine. Her life has been tragedy after tragedy, becoming an orphan at 9 and traveling in 1929 with other NYC orphans on a train to the midwest where couples take the children in -- sometimes because they want to have children, sometimes because they need workers on their farms, in their businesses or as nannies to their many children. The reader tells Vivian's story via a young teenager named Molly, who gets "thrown together" with Vivian --doing community service at the old lady's home. Little do either of them realize that healing will take place in each of their lives because of their unusual friendship. They bond because of the many shared emotions and experiences that they have each had in their lives. This is a story of resiliency and hope, one which I want to believe in; in this day and age of so many hurting children and families. I want to believe that even one person can make a huge difference, simply by kind words and acceptance of the other, that a wounded person can come through and be healed. My faith tells me that Jesus is the ONE who truly transforms; yet I also believe that God puts strength and determination in the hearts of wounded people, who come through their struggles and make a better life than the one in which they are born. The other element that I loved was the author's great phrases at the ends of the chapters, such as "As I walked away, I left my childhood on the dirty floor of that cabin." She had many such sentences that encapsulated a deep thought.