The Orphan Collector: A Heroic Novel of Survival During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic

prestine condition and came in a timely manner

This book is written in alternating chapters between 13 yr old Pia Lange and a young mother named Bernice Groves. The story takes place in Philadelphia in 1918 during the terrible Spanish Influenza outbreak. Pia has a special gift of feeling people's illnesses when she touches them. After her father leaves for the war, her mother dies of the flu leaving Pia to watch over her 4 month old twin brothers, Ollie & Max. When food runs out, Pia goes door to door for help, only to drop over on the sidewalk as she is stricken with the flu herself. The police take her to an orphanage where she is unable to get help checking on the welfare of her little brothers. Bernice is a nearby neighbor who sees Pia leave and goes to check on Mrs. Lange and the boys. She takes the boys to her home where her baby son, Wallis has recently died. When a traveling nurse comes calling, Bernice gets deeper into deception and ends up taking her nurse uniform and under the name, Nurse Wallis, visits orphanages sometimes taking children to new families. When Pia's friend, Finn recognizes the nurse as neighbor, Bernice; she has him shipped away. The story is almost too much defeat to believe and made me despair for Pia. I love books by this author, but this one was a bit more than I could bear. I thought the ending was a bit sudden and could have been a bit deeper. It was interesting as always to read about a historic event thru the fictitious characters created by Ms. Wiseman. Her character building is one reason I love her writing. I always come away wanting to know more about the actual event she has written about in her books.

This book was well written. Kept my interest and even had me googling facts which taught me some history I didn’t know much about!

This was beautifully written. So sad in so many ways with many different twists and turns. History is hard to swallow sometimes and this story was a tough one.

A young German immigrant girl (Pia) during the 1918 influenza period, lost her mother to the flu, her father enlisted in the war against Germany to show his allegiance to America. She doesn't know if he is alive or dead. She is left to take care of her twin baby brothers. In a desperate attempt to feed them, she leaves them in the apartment, where her mother's corps remains, to find food for them and herself. She falls ills and ends up in an orphanage 8 days later. During that time, her brothers are found and taken away. This is where the story becomes so emotionally intense. The villain in the story is a young mother who recently lost her son to the flu. She has an intense hatred for immigrants and doesn't feel like they belong in America. She blames them for the death of her husband and child. She finds Pia's brothers and takes them as her own. From that moment, she devises a plan to seek out orphans or poor and unsuspecting families to remove their children from them and send them to orphanages or workhouses. In the meantime Pia is desperate to find her brothers, guilt is eating at her. The nuns at the orphanage where she is staying are not sympathetic to her plight and are unwilling to help her. A few years go by before there is any resolution for her. As I was reading the book, I felt so much anxiety, sadness and anger towards the circumstances surrounding Pia. I could not put it down. This story is worth reading. I had to find out what happened. The racism and hatred towards immigrants in 2020 was reminiscent to that in 1918. This book is not for the faint of heart. The author really pulled at your emotions.

So far the book is a very interesting historical novel that’s character rich. The one problem is that the book is defective?.. pages that have not been cut properly. See photos

Had me from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down . Heart wrenching story that tears at your heart . Loved it!

Set in Philadelphia during the outbreak of the Great Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918, this historical novel explores the lives of the poor. Pia is the daughter of German immigrants, 12 years old. Her father is sent off to fight in WWI, leaving his wife to raise Pia and twin infant sons. Resources are few in the rough row house they live in. When the Flu breaks out, it spreads rapidly and kills quickly. Pia's mother dies, and Pia has to figure out how to keep her brothers and herself alive. When she runs out of food (stale bread dipped in water) she decides that she must leave the babies for awhile and go to other parts of town in search of food. While she is out, though, she also contracts the flu and collapses on the street. When she wakes up a week later, she is in a make-shift hospital set up in a church. When she recovers, even though she insists she must get back to her brothers, the authorities send her to an orphanage. Pia's story of determination and resilience in the face of unspeakable horrors is very moving. Dealing currently with COVID-19, there were many things that were familiar (masks, isolation, overcrowded hospitals, etc.). We can be glad we have resources, comforts, and modern electronics to solve problems. The story deals with cruel and hostile orphanages, baby selling schemes, and 'undesirable' orphans being sent to other states to fend for themselves. The ending was a little too trite and perfect, but overall it was a very interesting and enlightening novel.

Me interesa el tema de la gripe española (de hecho, he leído varios de los libros con los que se documentó la autora) y el tema de los huérfanos que esta dejó en todo el mundo. A priori, el argumento sonaba interesante. Pero se me ha hecho larguísima, para decir que la empecé a leer hace un año y la terminé esta semana, porque varias veces la he dejado durante semanas y la he vuelto a retomar. Y es que no creo que sea una mala novela, para mí habría sido perfecta con una cuarta parte menos de páginas. Sabemos que Pia se siente culpable, no hace falta que nos lo recuerden a cada diez páginas. Sabemos que los orfanatos debían ser (por lo menos algunos) terribles, pero las monjas malvadas oarecen un cliché, para mí se extiende demasiado en esa parte del libro (creo que es el cuarto que me ha sobrado). Redunda en desgracias varias y cosas terribles, una y otra vez, a ratos es tan deprimente que lo tenía que dejar y descansar. Por otra parte, se nota bien documentado, pero, como ejemplo de lo que acabo de decir: parece que era la norma que la gente se fuera desmayando por la calle por la gripe, cuando esa era la excepción, los casos fulminantes de la gripe morían en menos de 48 horas y solían empezar como una gripe normal, no era lo más habitual que estuvieran bien y en minutos colapsaran. Sí que fue una epidemia horrenda -para más rigor y tener una idea global, recomiendo el ensayo "El jinete pálido", de Laura Spinney a quien interese el tema-, pero la autora parece regodearse en todo ese gore. Vaya, para gustos colores, pero este no es el mío. Demasiado negro.

I can only render my own feelings about The Orphan Collector as my feelings about the book were uncomfortable right from the beginning. I can't say why but it feels too manufactured. It doesn't fall into the category of a love story, an adventure, a fantasy or just a piece of history.

This is the best book I have read all year. Although the subject matter is quite sad I have to say that I have not read a book with an author’s writing gift to be so enjoyable. Ellen Marie Wiseman is an extremely gifted writer. After completion of reading The Orphan Collector I decided to order all of her books x 6. Then I sent her a message to ask if she was writing other books. She was pleased to answer my question to say she was working on number 8 at the present time. The date of her message was on or about April 08, 2026 All of her other books are just as great as this one was. I am very impressed by her skill in writing ✍️

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

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.