These books (orphans, child abuse, kidnapping, etc) are upsetting but I read them anyway. This one got my mama bear raging because of the misunderstanding and not listening when a child speaks out. The setting is 1918 during the flu epidemic. Parents are dying or off to war and children are left on their own to survive. In walks the "do-gooder" who thinks the children would be better off in an abusive nun-run orphanage. Gut wrenching taleof a sister searching for her family.

I love historical fiction. I also love reading about the early 20th century, a time period I have not read much about. Although I was a little hesitant at first about this title (there is a long info dump on the first page), I ended up loving it. Pia was an amazing protagonist and I was not able to predict what was going to happen to her since. I thought her inner dialogue was very reveling and is typical of how many teenagers blame themselves for things they shouldn't. I will be recommending this to my students who are interested in the time period. Even though this is adult it could also venture into the young adult genre.

I wanted to love this book so much. But to be completely honest. I think I read it at the wrong time. With Covid still happening it made this book kind of hard to read for me anyway. Considering it’s about the Spanish flu.
I am definitely going to try again later. I just think it was the wrong time and that’s why I couldn’t enjoy it this time.
Thank you Netgalley and Kensington for the opportunity to read this copy.

Pia is sad to see her father go off to war to fight for their new home country, still so foreign to her and her mother. What Pia does not know is that her greatest trials are still ahead of her. Found thrust into the care of her infant twin bothers, Pia leaves them to go find food only to fall victim to the Spanish Flu epidemic. When released from the hospital, she is imprisoned an orphan asylum. Will she be released in time to save her bothers? Is it already too late?
Wiseman has written a captivating piece of Historical Fiction. The timely publication of this book during the COVID pandemic allows the reader to relate to Pia's struggle to navigate an unseen deadly illness. I greatly enjoyed this book, which peaked further interest in me about the Spanish Flu.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for giving me this opportunity to review this book!

A lot of people that I know didn't want to read it due to Covid-19 ... I admit it was hard for me, but I stuck with it.
The wirting was very good. It kept me wanting to read.

This book was interesting to read at this point in history as we struggle with the worldwide epidemic of COVID. The issues of race and bigotry are brought forth. The details about the Spanish flu was interesting and provided information of which I was not aware. The character of Bernice was simply evil. Her prejudices were overwhelming and led her to be a very bitter woman. I also had some issues with Pia’s sixth sense of who was ill just by touching them. This was an emotionally challenging book to read. It is a difficult story but is one that I think would appeal to fans of historical fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing Corporation for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

This book of historical fiction is brilliantly written! It is set during the Spanish flu epidemic in the US in 1918.

Pia Lange, a thirteen year-old German immigrant. She lives with her mother and her twin brothers and her father is off fighting in WWI overseas. The Spanish flu hits Philadelphia where she lives many people are dying. Pia finds herself having to make very difficult decisions that affect her family's welfare.

A tragic, emotional and suspenseful read!

What a fantastic read. Fantastic, but hard at times. Set during the Spanish Flu in Philadelphia we follow young Pia who has to care for her infant twin brothers after her mom dies of the flu. A series of circumstances separates her from them and she ends up in an orphanage. Her story was so heartbreaking. I was routing for something good to happen to her, but loved her persistence in the midst of her grief and shame. We also follow Bernice, a woman locked in her own cloud of grief, but makes horrible choices that lead her down a path of greed and bitterness.

I was captivated by the story and thought the descriptions, though slightly graphic at the beginning, really helped draw me into the story. I felt very invested and kept turning pages to see how it would all come together. I felt the ending was ok. I wanted a bit more consequences for some people's actions in the story, but overall enjoyed this book from start to finish.

Reading a book about the Spanish Flu in 1918 was probably not the best choice during the Covid Pandemic, but it gives me hope that things will return to almost normal soon. This story centres on Pia Lange, a thirteen year old girl of German descent. She is living in the slums of Philadelphia with her mother and twin infant brothers, while her father in fighting in Europe. When her mother succumbs of the flue, Pia needs to do what she can to find food for her brothers. She puts them in an enclosed area so they can't hurt themselves while she heads off to see what she can find. While she is out, she collapses, also having contracted the flu. She is taken to the hospital to recover and when she is discharged several days later, she heads to her apartment to see if her brothers are okay. They are gone and she doesn't know what happened to them. The readers do, but I do not want to spoil the story. Pia is taken to an orphanage, where she tries to escape. Will she find her brothers? Is her father alive and on his way home?

This is the third book I have read by Ellen Marie Wiseman, and I will now read whatever she writes. She does an amazing job with historical fiction and personalizing the stories so the reader comes to care deeply about them and their outcome. Pia is sure her brothers are alive, but she has not idea where to search. She doesn't give up and continues to find people to help her search. The characters in this story are well developed and it is easy to develop feeling toward them. I was upset with the way some of the nuns treated the orphans and the nurse that comes and takes orphans to homes is very suspect to me. She was always short with everyone and in a rush. She didn't like Pia at all, and I didn't understand why. This story had my emotions all over the place. Being an orphan in 1918 was very difficult with orphan trains, children being sold to rich families and kids living as indentured servants all occurred at some point in this story. I was cheering for Pia to find her brothers and become an independent woman. The one part of the story that I didn't care for as much was that of Bernice. She was a bigot who thought "the foreigners" shouldn't be getting care, or jobs etc. at the expense of the Americans. She does some terrible things, but some of them turn out well. This was the mystery in the story which was okay, but wasn't really necessary. The Orphan Collector is filled with the resilience of the human spirit. It reminds us that there were pandemics before us and the people survived using little medicine, but following recommendations. Many survived, many did not. It's a remarkable story of determination against all odds, a story where fiction meets stark reality. Overall, I enjoyed this emotional story. I recommend this one if you enjoy Historical Fiction told through characters that will become real to you as you read.

I am sorry but never got around to reading this one and it is now archived. My apologies. I had a death in my family and haven't been online in and going through some stuff. It is my deepest regret that I did not get around to reading this book you so kindly offered to let me read.

This story about the Spanish Flu epidemic of the 1920's will stay with me for a very long time. It was gruesome, heartbreaking and yet filled with hope. This story focuses on Pia, a teenager who loses her family and endures horrors trying to find answers.

The author did a great job writing this book enabling me to feel a large range of emotions, love, hate, sadness and happiness. I highly recommend this book to everyone!

Set in Philadelphia in 1918 with the Spanish flu running rampant, this story had so many parallels to life today. Parallels not only to the pandemic with deniers and underestimations, but also to the bigotry and racism that still exists more than 100 years later.
The main character, Pia, is a German left orphaned after the death of her mother. With her father at war and her twin baby brothers missing, the story follows Pia as she makes her way through an orphanage and then is placed with a family. While with her new family, she uncovers the dark truth about a “nurse” placing orphans in “acceptable” homes.
This book gets a rare 5 stars from me. There was fantastic storytelling, well developed characters and a period of history brilliantly depicted.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Another great book from Wiseman! Another one of those stories that rips out your heart but leaves you with hope, written so beautifully!
This is a tough read about the flu, orphans, immigrants, bigots and what family means. It was just a really good story. Pia has one hell of a journey and your heart goes along for the ride.
Narration by Rachel Botchan was very well done everyone had their own voice and I was never confused as to who was speaking.
I am afraid I am going to have a book hangover from this one!
Highly recommend!
4 Stars

This was a beautifully written historical fiction novel! The story takes place during the 1918 flu pandemic, and the timing of reading this during our own 2020 pandemic was perfect. It made the entire story so much more poignant for me!

I really enjoyed the story, it's absolutely one to tug at your heartstrings! It's very well-written, and should be an automatic pick up for hist-fic fans!

Have you read a book that you just weren't digging but couldn't put it down? Well, if you have, then you know what I am talking about here.

The story starts off in Sept 1918 after crowds of people gather at a parade in Philadelphia, spreading the Spanish flu, and people are dying. It's hard to believe so many years later, we are in a similar situation, with a pandemic and people are gathering in groups, and people are dying.

At first, I avoided this one due to the heartbreaking storyline with the Spanish flu, but this one was not what I expected. I loved the emotional pull to the story surrounding 13-year-old Pia, who is left alone to care for her baby brothers after her mother dies from the flu. She is a strong character, and her journey throughout the story is an extraordinary one and I thought this part of the story was well done. I was turning the pages as fast as I could to see how that journey played out for her.

The story takes on a suspenseful, thriller element to it with Bernice's character, who is created from the author's imagination. The story becomes complicated, overwhelming, and a little too much for me to buy into with her sinister mission. I began to lose that emotional pull I was feeling towards the story.

I think if I had known going into this one, it had that thriller element to the story, I would have liked it more.

The Orphan Collector
By Ellen Marie Wiseman

This book could not have come at a more opportune time as we deal with the current pandemic we are in and the effects of the Spanish Flu during 1918 Philadelphia in the story. So many of the issues they were dealing with at the time will resonate with you as you read this book and start drawing parallels - wearing masks, quarantining, escalating death rates, and unfortunately issues of racism and anti-immigrant sentiments.

The story is set in 1918 Philadelphia, and centered on 13 yo Pia, a German immigrant suffering through not only the pandemic but also the racial injustice going on - to show patriotism, her father enlists in the US Army and her mother insists on going to a very crowded parade with her twin brothers. She loses her mother and she is left to feed her starving family.

Wiseman deftly writes a courageous historical fiction story that is not only truly immersive but rich in accurate historical details. This one broke my heart as you read about some people's motives, and bad intentions who are swallowed by their own grief.

This is a book that is a must read for HF lovers and really anyone going through the pandemic, and that is all of us. I highly recommend this amazing and exceptionally written book.

WORTH THE WAIT!
I have been a huge fan of Ellen Marie Wiseman for several years and anxiously await each new book she puts out. I waited months for the Orphan Collector and finally bought it a few days after it's release. Her depiction of the 1918 Spanish Flu is gripping and heartbreaking and it was quite eerie reading this book with Covid-19 happening. If you have never read this author, start. If you know and love her writing, you won't be disappointed.

Pia Lange watches the 1918 pandemic rage through her Philadelphia community, taking her mother while her father is at war. Succumbing herself, she loses her twin baby brothers to a neighbor whose baby died of the flu, and she ends up in an orphanage. She spends her life searching for her siblings. This is a heart-wrenching tale of a young immigrant facing obstacles she never expected, yet pursuing her truth to find her family. I was fortunate to receive this well-written and well-researched novel from the publisher Kensington Publishing Corp. through NetGalley. I highly recommend it, but maybe not just yet...maybe after our own pandemic is tailing off to its end.

This book was hard to read in this time of isolation and pandemic. If this brings you anxiety, I recommend waiting until "this is all over". There's a lot of parallels to the political and medical issues in 2020, and it was a heartbreaking, anxiety ridden, and beautiful read. Themes include: Immigrant experience in America, Pandemic, and Americanism

This is historical fiction at its best! Set during the Spanish flu epidemic in the US in 1918, this book is hauntingly similar to what we're currently going through with the coronavirus - although the author finished it more than a year before COVID hit!

"The Orphan Collector" features a wonderful main character named Pia Lange, a 13-year-old German immigrant who faces incredible heartache when the flu hits Philadelphia where she lives with her mother and twin brothers (her father is fighting overseas in WWI). Once people begin dying around her, Pia is forced to make tough decisions to battle for her family's welfare. She's both smart and empathetic, making her the perfect narrator for the story. Her story is often tragic, but I loved that she never lost her will to fight.

I was completely captivated by this book - not only for the crazy similarities to our current story more than 100 years later (including a fight against a virus, rampant racism, and anti-immigrant sentiments), but also because Wiseman writes fiction like a suspense writer. Each chapter (even the particularly long ones) had me flipping pages to find out what would happen next to Pia and the other characters.

Any book that makes me want to stay up late reading is the sign of a great read - and "The Orphan Collector" made it almost impossible for me to turn my light off! I'm definitely recommending this one to everyone and I can't wait to read Wiseman's next book!