"Orphan Train" is Christina Baker Kline's breakout novel. The author - who grew up in Maine and comes back each year - has written four books, but this is the first to really take off, selling more than 800,000 copies. It spent 30 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list. The novel interweaves the story of two protagonists - Molly, a teenage girl of Penobscot Indian heritage living in a foster home, and Vivian, a wealthy elderly woman whose childhood was also marked by displacement and loss. The novel's title, "Orphan Train," refers Vivian's journey in 1929, when she was one of thousands of orphan children shipped to midwestern homes from cities on the east coast. Discuss the history behind the book and the themes it explores.
'Orphan Train' by Christina Baker Kline
