Ellen Marie Wiseman's The Orphan Collector was incredible to read. The highest of highs, the lowest of lows. Parts of this novel were horrific to read... just considering how orphans were treated historically. I fear that their situation is not always much better today.

Pia, the young 13 year old girl in the center of this novel, experiences unbelievable heartache and pain as a result of the Spanish Flu and her subsequent life in the orphanage. Her story's intersection with Nurse Wallis is one of those trainwreck scenes you just can't look away from... and it keeps happening time and time again... but fortunately the redemption at the end of this book through Pia's work with the Hudson family and Finn left me closing the book with a smile on my face.

I've read other books by Ellen Marie Wiseman and think this was her best one yet!

After the devastation of Word War I, a weary world is hit hard by the Spanish influenza, a pandemic that will make the death toll from the War to end all Wars look puny in comparison. In Philadelphia, German immigrant Pia Lange is trying to start a new life, but it’s not easy; her father joined the U.S. Army hoping to prove his loyalty to his new country, but Pia is till regarded with suspicion and hostility. Now, she’s fighting for her life and the life of her twin baby brothers, scavenging to find food, even if it takes her far from home. Meanwhile Bernice Groves is inconsolable after the loss of her son, she blames the doctors who couldn’t save him, but her real hatred is reserved for the immigrants she blames for taking medical care away from her son, a true American. When Beatrice sees Pia leave her apartment in search of food, she makes a terrible decision and makes it her mission to turn immigrant children into “real” Americans. This is such a tragic page from our nation’s past and it is even more relevant today than ever, as our government decides who is worthy of saving and who is not. Wiseman’s story is beautiful, bold and frightening and more than anything, a cautionary tale