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Bridie's Daughter: The Second Story in the Orphan Train Trilogy

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The suspenseful and entertaining Bridie's Daughter is Robert Noonan's second book in the series, the Orphan Train Trilogy. Readers will recognize characters introduced in his first book called Wildflowers who create mysterious connections to new events with intriguing new adults and children. Their past circumstances return to haunt readers as they recognize signals of previous dangerous encounters. However, even without such knowledge, the author prepares an explanation with background. This book is explosive and a must-read at Amazon booksellers and others.
Bridie's Daughter: The Second Story in the Orphan Train Trilogy

Noonan's stories are reminiscent of American Literature by John Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath - 1939, and Edith Wharton The House of Mirth - 2002. The Orphan Train Trilogy was inspired by an amazing saga of 200,000 orphaned American children during the years 1854 to 1929. Robert Noonan's historical novels touch a mere portion of these lives.

Children of all ages awaken with anticipation in the early hours as the day arrives when they will board the Orphan Train. The orphans hope the journey from New York City to Western states leads to their adoption.

At six-thirty on June 8, 1899, following breakfast, the boys and girls dress and pack their meager belongings at the dormitory. They are well mannered and supportive of one another. A young girl worries lest she not find loving parents while a child of ten comforts and reassures the three year old. There are few teenagers but Catherine Hayes and Brian Hampton are among the 20 boys and 17 girls from the orphanage.

During the train ride, Brian and Catherine become friends with Monica and Jason. Brian and Jason have each lived on the streets of New York and discuss details of their personal survival there. Catherine and Monica share their attraction toward the young boys and other personal data. Early on, readers champion the hopes of these beloved children.

Adoptive parents, too, have agendas for needing or wanting children in their households. Tender hearted parents of their small town where Catherine and Brian are adopted form family alliances. The losses of a child's parents are features of their adaptations to adoptive parents throughout the unfolding stories that play heavily on people's hearts in these tales. They tenderize even the most resolute reader.

Significant historical American Indian lore adds charm and links to future relational incidents because of a visit to the County Fair. One child chances to meet with a former friend at The Fair and the result is that several children become friends. Friendships and travel become the new adventure of their lives as bonds deepen. Children and adoptive parents become increasingly attached and share chaperon functions as train travel increases from one or another town.

Secrets of the past, child and adult courtships, involved confidences, and provocative encounters due to secret communications, all tend to complicate lives. Chaotic conflicts are artfully weaved by storyteller Robert Noonan so as to cause anxiety to his captive audiences.

Review of Bridie's Daughter

Mr. Noonan continues his story in this second book about Bridie who adopts one of the Orphan Train riders. This story continues the magic, love and mysteries that surround the characters in this book. Mr. Noonan has a way of presenting the story that will keep you reading, excited to see what will happen next ands not wanting to put the book down until you have finished.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0595436293/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_title

Bridie's Daughter: In the midst of this charming coming of age story which begins in 1898, Bridie McDonald's future daughter Catherine becomes fast friends with Brian and Monica. All three are fifteen-years-old and wards at the Society for Children's Orphanage in New York City. As fate would have it, the three are sent west on an Orphan Train together and are adopted into three homes in Newberry, Illinois. While Catherine and Brian are chosen to live in loving and affluent homes, Monica's fears of an unhealthy adoption are realized. All three have difficulties being accepted into the community until they meet Pina, a twelve-year-old girl adopted from an orphan train the previous year. Pina brings hope to the former orphans and their parents, and that hope sets Bridie McDonald into motion to plan for the children's acceptance into society. In a surprising reunion, Pina and Hillary, from Wildflowers, are reunited after being separated for over a year. As the group expands, their joys and sorrows increase setting up a variety of possibilities for a third novel.

Expertly written by Wisconsin author Robert Noonan (who moved from Chicago, Illinois to Hatfield, Wisconsin to write his books), the 'Orphan Train Trilogy' is a set of three novels that, taken together or read separately, draw upon the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century phenomena of orphaned boys and girls from the eastern seaboard who were placed upon trains traveling west for exploitive foster home placements, menial factory jobs, and agricultural laborers. "Bridie's Daughter" follows the lives of four teen-aged children, including Catherine who ends up with Bridie McDonald in Newberry, Illinois. While some welcome the children, others hold them in dark suspicion thinking that all orphans brought in from New York City are cast off bastards and should be treated with contempt. The three titles comprising this superbly written trilogy showcase an obscure historical event in American history that ran began in 1854 and continued until 1929. The intent was to improve the lives of children in otherwise desperate circumstances in the cities of the east. The results were often more harrowing that anything the children had experienced prior to boarding those orphan trains headed west. Informed and informative, Robert Noonan is a master storyteller whose novels are as entertaining as they are thoughtful and thought-provoking.

Robert Noonan's second book in his trilogy has just been released! Bridie's Daughter follows Wildflowers and if you haven't yet read it, I highly recommend it to you. These books are a taste of Americana that you don't want to miss!

The "orphan trains" moved across the country from 1854-1929. Reverend Charles Loring Brace was shocked in 1850 when he learned of and saw 10,000 homeless children prowling the streets of New York City. He founded a Society through which many of these desperate children were sent west to begin new lives.

And so another trip was planned; the orphan train would carry 37 children under the age of 15. They were optimistic that all of the children might find homes this time since other trips had carried as many as 150 orphans. The children came from many different places but they were able to meet and make new friends during the train trip. They would ride two days to their first destination in Illinois.

Two of the older children were immediately attracted to each other; Catherine and Brian easily found a way to meet and shared many hours together during their trip. Monica and Jason were their respective friends and they all speculated about what kind of homes they might find. Brian and Jason had been living on the streets, but Brian shared that he had dreams of becoming an engineer if he ever had a chance to go to school. In each seat on the train, whispers and dreams and fears were shared as children turned to others who could share their feelings.

Bridie McDonald was already waiting at the Newberry, Illinois train station as it rolled in. Her dear friends, Margaret and Tom Holmgren, who were hoping to find a boy to call their son, soon joined her. Bridie wanted a daughter and she would know her when she saw her. Indeed, that is exactly what happened and she moved quickly toward the young girl, Catherine, who was already deep in conversation with a couple.

Deciding it was only fair to let the young girl choose, the couple and then Bridie quickly shared with Catherine why they would like to have her come live with them. But Birdie had inside information--she had noticed the apparent relationship between Catherine and Brian and quickly highlighted that her good friends had asked Brian to come to live with them and that they lived only two streets away. How could Catherine fail to choose Bridie as she stood there with her twinkling eyes?!

The heartwarming stories of these new families will pull readers into each life--those of the children and those of the new parents. However, there in Newberry, one of the orphans, Monica, Catherine's friend, did not find the happiness she sought. Her story is one that also occasionally happened to those riding the trains. She was finally forced to leave the family that had adopted her, but she was smart enough and brave enough to find another life for herself; her story just might be the most gripping tale you'll read!

The orphans' saga leading to new lives with new families is one that you will always remember. I've found the stories very similar to the series "Little House on the Prairie," based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder that were set in the 1870-80s. So if you've enjoyed this family-oriented program centered on the Ingalls children or Wilder's books, you will indeed agree with me that Noonan's Trilogy is a Must-Read!