First Story in my Orphan Train Trilogy.
A little-known corner of U.S. History.
A riveting tale that deftly portrays everyday life in a small American mill town where innocent children are forced to operate dangerous machinery and even darker abuses are committed against them.
1898-1899 Eleven-year-old Hillary Cook and her widowed mother, Laura, must both work to survive. Hillary works twelve hours a day, six days a week at the Alton Textile Mill. On Sunday afternoons, she and her two friends pick flowers, dream and play pretend in the nearby countryside. The girls pledge to be friends for eternity and call themselves Wildflowers.
Mill owner, Frank Dragus, has young girls sent to his office for whatever he pleases-and he is interested in Hillary. When tragedy befalls Hillary and her mother, Hillary is forced into a situation that may have disasterous consequences ...
When Hillary's widowed mother begins a relationship with Biff Arley, a stranger who frequently comes to town, Hillary is concerned that her father is being forgotten. Laura, while still in love with her deceased husband, fights guilt when she finds herself falling in love with Biff. When equally committed to their love, Biff returns for Laura and Hillary, hoping they'll start a new life with him in Galena, Illinois. He is devastated by what he learns on his return.
From busy factory floors and bustling portside pubs to tragedy, murder, and intrigue, Wildflowers integrates the nostalgia of historical fiction with the wit of modern-day drama.
Excerpt
Glo greeted him, as if nothing were wrong, gave him his room key and told him she would bring towels directly. She intended to talk to him in the privacy of his room.
Biff took two stairs at a time, anxious to bathe and see Laura. He placed his leather bag on the bed and set the box of chocolates on the edge of the dresser. Biff leaned the Indian doll for Hillary against the oval mirror. He was removing his boots when he heard Glo's footsteps coming toward his room. He jumped up from the bed and opened the door.
Without a word, she draped two towels over the brass bar mounted on the inside of the door. She was nervous, telling him was going to be difficult. "Sit down," Glo suggested.
"I must tell you something, and it won't be pleasant."
Biff sensed what she had to say was important. He thought she might be having financial problems that would cause her to lose the boarding house. He sat on the bed with his arms crossed, listening to the worst nightmare possible.
Professional Reviews
http:/journals.aol.com/authrobertnoonan/orphantraintrilogyauthor/
Click the link above for an extensive descriptions and book reviews of the Orphan Train Trilogy
WILDFLOWERS (Orphan Train Trilogy) [Review: Charlotte Liebel, M.Ed.]
Robert Noonan, author, creates desperate relationships among 19th Century abused children in A Trilogy: Wildflowers, Bridie's Daughter, and Secrets. These books carry a social message. Orphan children are delivered on trains.
In WILDFLOWERS, suspenseful events at a seaport town uncover intrigue and murder. Romantic ties are severed and reunited. Heroines rescue children and heroes support their escapes. A Must-Read SERIES at Amazon Books and other booksellers.
Wildflowers: The First Story in the Orphan Train Trilogy
Author Robert Noonan [Reviewed: Charlotte Liebel]
In 1898, Hillary Cook is a child devoted to her widowed mother and at 11 years old works. The textile mill in town puts children to work in the factory in 12 hour shifts 6 days a week. She and her young acquaintances meet briefly at work and share church services at a distance. Two of her close friends at work meet Sunday afternoons for their only day off to explore their world of wildflowers and make-believe stories. A significant mystery to them is the talk of children being transferred through their town regularly by train. Disaster befalls one child, then another, and another. These are children known to these three best friends. They cannot ever imagine that one of them might become a victim soon but, in fact, disaster is imminent.
Tragedy and a horrible ending await a child these girls know from the textile mill and a father is to blame. Another child they know is last seen staring out the window of a passing train and none can give the reason. The children forge friendships and adapt to common practices of abuse, poverty, growing up too quickly, and low wages for long hours and dangerous working conditions. Through conversations of town folk, personal experiences, and escapes, these young girls are indoctrinated into harsh and abusive risk-taking that even more mature natures should not have to endure.
Such turmoil in the lives of timid young ladies starts them imagining what they would be capable of enduring in a worst case scenario. Little knowledge is available for them to learn what goes on behind closed doors of abandoned boys and girls. But they learn from worldly children they meet in the streets on a trip to town that some prostitute themselves to survive.
Never mind that the worst of characters is none other than the boss at work who waits for young girls to express needs making them vulnerable to his lecherous advances. Nothing is free in his office as he trades favor for favor.
Life's circumstances turn for the worst for Hillary, an only child, whose mother is desperately ill. One day, she becomes brave enough to ask for the boss's favor learning too late of his malicious intent when he offers to pay the rent and doctor bills. She lives with her degrading secret. Her only hope is to leave this town as soon as the opportunity presents itself.
Wildflowers by Robert Noonan is a novel I have come to love. It is the first book in a historical trilogy and carries an underlying story about the "orphan trains" that moved across the country from 1854 to 1929. Reverend Charles Loring Brace was shocked in 1850 when he learned of and saw 10,000 homeless children prowling the streets of New York City. He founded a Society through which many of these desperate children were sent west to begin new lives.
In a small mill town there are no laughing children playing and running. Those that are of the right age are already called upon to work to help support their families. Many of them work at Alton Mill, where they stand for long hours at machines that can maim, to create the different garments that are on order at any given time.
Noonan begins his story on Friday, September 16, 1898, as Hillary Cook walked to work at Alton Mill. She is eleven years old. Her mother is widowed and both must work to have food and shelter.
Kate Moran, best friend of her mother and one of the few friendly faces, smiled as Hillary hurried to her workstation. Work began at six a.m. Kate had come to love Hillary as her own and, indeed, had already promised her friend that she would take Hillary as her child if something should happen to her mother.
The mill was open for long hours Monday through Saturday so the only time for play and just being children was very short and much valued. Hillary and her girlfriends would roam the countryside, searching for flowers, seeking places to play pretend, to be just a little bit silly or to try some new brave adventure...and that is how they came to call themselves the Wildflowers. For those few precious hours, they were able to run wild and feel the joy and freedom of being just what they were--children.
Often, they would run and watch and wave at the children going by on an orphan train. They prayed they would never have to be loaded and shipped away like they had seen happen to one of the little girls at the Mill.
But just as in the fairy tales of our youth, here too lived a wolf, who watched all of the flowers, the children he saw every day but who played in the woods so rarely. He was the owner of Alton Mill. Whenever he chose, he picked a young girl from behind the large machines and had them sent to his office. They were there for whatever he pleased, and he took the most precious thing they owned. Even now, though she was only eleven, he watched and waited for the young, pretty Hillary.
And then in the midst of their daily lives, a stranger came to town. But he wasn't a stranger to Kate Moran's fiancé, John, who had secretly been hiding because he had once been falsely accused of killing a man. The stranger was the dead man's brother! John was forced to once again run since there was no hope of proving his innocence. But John was now financially able to relocate west and find the place where he and Kate would later settle. So they planned and looked forward to that time.
And then Hillary's secret fear came true. Her mother became gravely ill. Hillary stayed by her side day and night but she was getting no better. And that was the time that Frank Dragus, her boss, moved to take his advantage. In exchange for financial support for food, lodging and doctors, he bargained for what he wanted from Hillary.
Noonan's has placed us back into the late 1890's with a tale that is well written, tastefully and respectfully done, and historically significant. When I received the manuscript for review, I was told by the author, "Follow the Children." Indeed, you not only will follow them, but you will become involved and concerned about their lives. Robert Noonan, as a first-time author, has presented us with a gift. We may not enjoy reading about some of the challenges they faced, but it is important that we learn of them. We should also be reminded that there are always good people who move in to assist and love those in need. This must-read first book is a keeper for your historical fiction library!
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