Jennie’s Book Club – Tuesday, November 19 at 10am- The Orphan Collector

Our November book club selection is The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman. We meet on Tuesday, November 19th at 10am at the library.

This book explores themes of family, shame and survival against the historical backdrop of Philadelphia during the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918.

Books are available to borrow at the library front desk. All are welcome!

The author wrote this book while the world was in the midst of the challenges of the COVID epidemic and shared that is the midst of it “when words like “social distancing,” “quarantine,” “face mask,” and “ventilators” are a part of daily conversation, she is “praying hard that by the time you read this, we’re closer to coming out on the other side together, more resilient, more compassionate, and stronger than ever.

The Orphan Collector tells the story of a young German immigrant in Philadelphia, Pia Lange, struggling to keep her family together at a time when more Americans were dying in our nation’s streets and homes than on the battlefields of WWI. It’s also about a grieving mother, Bernice Groves, who uses her hatred of immigrants as an excuse to tear families apart when they’re at their most vulnerable. I hope you will be drawn to Pia’s resiliency, courage, and determination in the face of impossible odds, even when shame and fear threaten to swallow her whole. I also hope Bernice’s story will remind readers that empathy for others, no matter their race, nationality, or religion, is always the right choice.”