The Orphan Collector: A Story of Courage and Endurance During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

ListenClose: What a heartbreaking honest story of the tragedy that was the Spanish flu! I have read other books about the period and the orphan trains and glad to see this one at least wrapped up with redemption.

United States on Sep 28, 2023

Melissa Carpenter: I enjoyed this book, especially the details about how the Spanish flu affected the United States. The story line was intriguing and well-written and the characters were realistic. If you want to learn more about what it was like to live thru the Spanish flu, this is an excellent read.

United States on Sep 04, 2023

Dawn Medve: Loved it from the start, and only at the end did it have kind of a funky ending but mostly I loved it!

United States on Aug 25, 2023

Momma A: This book was especially poignant post COVID. The characters came alive and I felt myself rooting for some, despising some and questioning the absolute stupidity of others.

Canada on Aug 22, 2023

Loves2Shop715Loves2Shop715: I somewhat feel like Pia on the cover of THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR! I am so darn sad this book is over. It is so well written and had so many twists and turns plus surprises that I didn’t even see coming I just didn't want to put it down. Yes, it's that good! So much of what happens in this book does mimic what we all did live through in the past several years with Covid-19. You may not want to relive that, but I feel that the way in which the author handled the storyline made it so that you don't really concentrate on our Covid -19 but on their Spanish Influenza. I feel it was a fast read even though it was a 380+ page paperback as in my case. One thing I do need to warn without giving away any part of the story plot, just be prepared for some heavy, graphic, depictions, of illness and corpses. With that being said this was a Five Star "Love it so much Book " for me that I will be sharing this summer. I know a lot of friends will like to read this as a Beach Book.

United States on May 19, 2023

Jess S: This had all the ingredients for a fantastic work of historical fiction. That coupled with the glowing reviews for it is why I picked it up. Having finished it, I don't get it. I don't get what the fuss is about.

The Orphan Collector is set in Philadelphia during the 1918 pandemic. It mainly follows Pia, a 13yo German immigrant, who is left to care for her infant twin brothers when her mother dies from the flu and her father is away fighting in the war. Pia must leave her brothers alone one afternoon to find food but she collapses from the flu and wakes up days later. During that time Bernice, a bitter, racist bitch from across the way, who had lost her own child to the pandemic, steals Pia's brothers. The story also follows her from time to time.

Riddled with the guilt of not knowing what has happened to her brothers, Pia must go to the orphanage run by brutal nuns and figure out how to find them or find out what happened. At the same time Bernice begins a bizarre evil crusade of her own to rid the city of foreign scum.

Don't worry, I haven't even given anything away. That's all just the beginning.

Sadly, this book lacked any depth whatsoever. You...

United Kingdom on Dec 18, 2022

dee: Struggled to get into this book due to the incredibly dark realities of that time. I grew up in South Africa during the 70’s/80’s and thought I had seen cruelty between human and human, but this was next level.
The story got more engaging about half way through and is definitely worth sticking with it and finishing it.

United Kingdom on Aug 21, 2022

Dave Schwinghammer: In her acknowledgments, Wiseman says she was just finishing THE ORPHAN COLLECTOR when, ironically, another pandemic descended on America. Her book is set in the Spanish flu era as WWI was simultaneously wrecking havoc on our citizenry in the year 1918.

The main character is German immigrant Pia Lange. She’s only thirteen but when her mother dies of the flu she’s in charge of her baby twin brothers. She most leave them alone to find food.

This is when the villain of the novel, Bernice Groves, shows up. She is a bereaved mother who has lost her baby son Wallis. She’s also been watching Pia and her mother. She also has a thing against immigrants, especially Germans. When Pia leaves the apartment building she’s set on chastising her mother for letting her leave. She finds the mother’s body and hears the babies crying. She finds them hidden in a cubby hole and takes them back to her apartment.

Pia is stricken by the flu during her search for food and winds up in a church. When she gets well enough they send her to an orphanage. She begs the sisters to let her go to find her baby brothers. Their response is to put her in solitary confinement. This sounds a...

United States on Jun 24, 2022

Linda Pfeiffer: Perhaps because I knew the book was set during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, I should have known that it would include the graphic sickness and the state of dead bodies which seemed to take up the first quarter of the novel. But the overflowing orphanage, horrid living conditions and cruel behavior by the "nuns" was at times almost unbearable. The young girl, Pia, is the one shining light in the whole novel, as her indominable spirit, innate intelligence and unwavering desire to find her twin brothers overcomes the disgusting behavior by some of the adults in the book. Early in the book, I almost stopped reading several times, but I continued to the end, willing the child, Pia to finally solve the problem.
If you can stomach the beginning, you will probably enjoy the ending.

Canada on Aug 06, 2021

Krista Kirkland: This story broke my heart seeing children working as coal miners and knowing that this actually happened in the early 1900's.

Wiseman takes on another part of US history and making the reader really feel what life was like in this small mining town. This book wasn't an easy read but none of her books are but reading how children were forced to work and the harsh conditions they had to endure instead of being children and learning in a school environment.

I loved Emma and the various characters but my only criticism was the ending fell short. It felt rushed and it felt like it didnt fit with the rest of the story

I do recommend completely though

Canada on Aug 15, 2020