Now available in LARGE PRINT! 

In the mid-1850s, there were over 30k children living on the streets of New York City. Children as young as four and five who had to lie, cheat, and steal just to survive. Some of the children were true orphans, others were not.  Either way, their situation was dire and something had to be done. So, between 1854 and 1929, over 250k children from New York and Boston were sent west on what was later referred to as ‘the orphan trains’ to find new homes. Children most people haven’t heard about. 
My goal with this saga is to keep those children’s memories alive.

The early stories are based on true events, and then I use history to weave the rest of the story. 

Each book will tell one child’s tale. The reader will follow each child from their earliest memory and find out what caused them to be without a home.

The reader will journey with the children on the train and follow as they grow.

 When I began writing this historical fiction saga, I thought I was writing towards adults.  While each book starts with the person’s first memory, the children grow up, and there are real-life situations.

With that said, the books are void of swearwords and there is no overly graphic content. Since Discovery’s release in December of 2018, I’ve received e-mails from children as young as nine, letting me know how much they are enjoying this saga, and the history that surrounds it. So, now when I‘m asked I just say it’s for ages 9 to 109. 
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Lastly, while Discovery can be read and enjoyed on its own, if you decide to keep reading – which I hope you do - you’ll want to read the first six books in order as some of the children’s lives are so intertwined that a subsequent book will give you a greater understanding of something from a previous book when told from a different perspective. 

DISCOVERY, Book One

While most use their summer breaks for pleasure, third grade teacher Cindy Moore is using her summer vacation to tie up some loose ends concerning her grandmother’s estate.

When Cindy enters the storage unit that holds her grandmother’s belongings, she is merely looking for items she can sell to recoup some of the rental fees she’s spent paying for the unit.
Instead, what she finds are secrets her grandmother has taken to the grave with her. The more Cindy uncovers, the more she wants to know.

Why was her grandmother abandoned by her own mother?

Why hadn’t she told Cindy she’d lived in an orphanage?

And how come her grandmother never mentioned she’d made history as one of the children who rode the Orphan Trains?
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Join Cindy as she uncovers her grandmother’s hidden past and discovers the life that stole her grandmother’s love.

SHAMELESS, Book Two

As The Orphan Train Saga continues, Cindy and her mother continue to uncover the secrets in the journals that are hidden in her grandmother’s attic.

The story resumes in 1914, as young Tobias is forced onto the streets of New York City. Like so many other orphans of the era, he learns to lie, cheat, and steal just to survive. Armed with a silver tongue and his wits, Tobias soon finds himself headed west on one of the orphan trains.
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When that placement doesn’t work, Tobias is returned to NYC and back on the streets he once called home. Slightly older and much wiser, Tobias thrives in his new setting.

That is, until he becomes obsessed with Mileta and finds himself on yet another orphan train headed west and adopted into the infamous Purple Gang Society.

Will this gang, with its emphasis on criminal activity at any cost, claim what is left of the young man’s soul?

TREACHERY, Book Three

The Orphan Train Saga continues with Treachery, Book Three, Anastasia’s story.

After an arduous childhood, fraught with poverty and a contentious relationship with her parents, Anastasia finds herself thrust out of her home and living on the streets of New York City.

Not wishing to be listed among the city’s ever-growing homeless children population, Anastasia lies her way into being sent out on an orphan train, a trip that will set her on a turbulent path few would be able to recover from.

Will Anastasia find the happiness she so desperately seeks?

​Or will she be forced to accept the dark cloud that has shrouded her childhood?

GUARDIAN, Book Four

Taken from his unwed mother immediately after his birth and sent to a New York Children’s Asylum, Franky never questioned his life of sterile walls, strict discipline, and emotionally distant caregivers.

That is, until being selected to ride the orphan trains, where he quickly discovers there is more to life than living in an institution.

Taken in by a well-educated judge who is looking to save a wayward boy, the man soon turns Franky into a voracious reader who wishes nothing more than to join the Army he spends so much time reading about.
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The judge succeeds in teaching Franky there is more to life than violence.
That is, until the judge’s past threatens Franky’s very survival.

Having vowed never to return to the asylum, Franky decides to take his chances on the streets of Detroit.

Working under the protection of his uncle Tobias, street name Mouse, a trusted member of the infamous Purple Gang, he gets a new kind of education, one that isn’t taught in books.

Will Franky be able to handle the war raging around him, or will the ugliness of life claim another innocent soul?

LOYAL, Book Five

Percival’s journey is one wrought with emotion when, after his mother dies unexpectedly, he finds his sheltered upbringing has left him lacking survival skills.

Lucky for Percival, there are plenty of people to help educate him about the ways of the world.

After Percival is sent to Detroit via the orphan train, he is taken in by Louis Gianetti – a kindly Italian restaurant owner who wishes only to make his new son proud.

A difficult task when previous mistakes put them both in danger from men who wish to strip them of everything they have.

Loyal will reunite the reader with past favorites such as Paddy, Mouse and the gang, and new characters, such as Big Joe, the boxer who helps teach Percival AKA Slim to use his legs to his advantage, and Mr. Thornton, who encourages him to use his brain to fight his battles.

PATIENCE, Book Six

The Orphan Train Saga Continues with Patience, Paddy’s story, Book Six in the saga.
Paddy entered the world on June 5, 1909, as the seventh son of Irish immigrant parents with fiery red hair…

While Paddy blends with his family, fitting into a society in which redheads are thought to be ill-tempered and feisty proves to be a huge challenge for the cunning youth.

Paddy’s fierce determination to fit in with others puts him at odds with his father, who is barely able to put food on the family’s table.

Paddy’s mother, working to keep the peace between father and son, tells him he can have the things he desires if he has the patience to wait. Little does he know how well this lesson will serve him during his life.

After a final confrontation with his father, Paddy finds himself living on the streets of New York City, until he follows his friend Slim into a Children’s Asylum to help keep tabs on Mileta, a little girl who has captured Paddy’s heart.

Unfortunately for Paddy, his nemesis, Tobias – street name Mouse – already has his sights on the girl.

Fate steps in when Paddy, along with others from the asylum, get chosen to travel west on the Orphan Trains to find new homes.
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Though the odds of being chosen for a new home are against him because of the color of his hair, Paddy finds himself with new parents and an opportunity to have the life he has always dreamed of, if only he can implement the tools his mother taught him and find the patience needed to bide his time.

Author’s note: Paddy’s story, Patience, will conclude the prevailing storyline that connected the first six books and open The Orphan Train Saga to the next part of the journey. Though each child was introduced in the first book, with the exception of interactions at the asylum, their stories will be told in standalone books.

ENDURANCE, Book Seven in The Orphan Train Saga, Coming December 27, 2025

ENDURANCE, Book 7

PLEASE NOTE: This is a pre-order book, to be released on December 27, 2025. Autograped copies will be shipped mid-January.
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As an American child lost in Germany who must somehow find her way back to the United States, Dorthia knows that once she is there, she will have no home or family waiting for her, as she does not know how to find them.

From the uneasy streets of pre-war Germany in 1914 to the crowded avenues of New York City and then via an Orphan Train to Guymon, Oklahoma, join Dorthia as she uses her wits to navigate this new life fate has given her and struggles to fill the void left when her father is suddenly taken from her.

Will Dorthia be able to overcome the obstacles that plague her at every step?

Will she ever find the family she longs for?

Will she find all she is seeking in the Oklahoma Panhandle, a place history still refers to as No Man’s Land?

Find out in this standalone novel as the journey continues with Endurance, book seven in The Orphan Train Saga.

A standalone novel, also available in large print.

EZRA'S STORY tells what happened to Tobias and Anastasia's Brother...

Ezra's story begins in New York City in 1915, a volatile time during which droves of immigrants poured into an overly crowded city looking for housing, jobs, and the American dream.

Ezra’s father has lost his job at the docks and starts to drink heavily, which in turn has left the family fearful and hungry. After his parents have a violent argument, Ezra decides to run away and take his brother with him.

Prior to their departure, Ezra is confronted by his father, who is very drunk and unable to control his temper. As the skirmish with his father becomes more intense, Ezra sends his little brother into the streets. Ezra follows shortly afterward, only to find himself alone in the crowded city and unable to find his brother.

As he frantically searches for his sibling, Ezra makes friends with an Irish immigrant who help's him navigate his new life. His new friend teaches him to open his eyes and his heart to the suffering of others, a lesson that seals his fate when an act of kindness sets him up to be sent west on an orphan train to find the life he thought he’d lost forever.
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