Orphanland
In Lauren Fischer’s novel Orphanland, childhood friends work to unravel a mystery surrounding their orphanage, an abandoned school, and the influential family tied to both.
Eleven-year-old Willa lives in the Southern Ohio Children’s Home, which is run by kind Mercy, who does all she can to provide for her charges. The orphanage struggles for funding, though. With two new arrivals, Mercy is almost out of options.
Willa and her new friend Kacey make a fascinating discovery: a series of diaries written when the orphanage was a wealthy family’s mansion. They contain confidential information about a local boy’s academy with dark secrets from the time when Mercy was young. Inspired to find out more about their home, the academy, and Mercy’s family history, Willa and her friends investigate the town’s hidden past.
At times, Willa’s commentary is quite adult in tone, straining credulity. She’s both knowledgeable and opinionated about complex contemporary issues, as with the culpability of drug companies in relation to overdoses, the efficacy of conversion camps, and the practices of Native American tribe displacement. Still, her inquiries give clear shape to the failures of American social institutions.
Indeed, the novel includes several characters who were failed by their parents. Further, the old reformatory school, Willa learns, was run like a prison, and a drug company ignores the damage it’s doing to the community. These negative situations are good narrative foils, instigating character development; several individuals have to work past their disadvantages in order to grow.
In the socially aware novel Orphanland, the residents of a children’s home overcome myriad disadvantages to uncover the secrets of their town.
Reviewed by
Ian Dailey
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
