In the late 1800s, Marianne travels westward on the Orphan Train in hopes of being placed with a caring family.

Seven years ago, orphaned and alone, Em finally arrived at a new home in Iowa after riding the orphan train. But secrets from her past haunt her, and her new life in the Western wilderness is a rough one. When her guardian is shot and killed, Em, now nineteen, finally has the chance to search for her long-lost sister, but she won't be able to do it alone. For Azure Springs Sheriff Caleb Reynolds, securing justice for the waifish and injured Em is...

Discusses the placement of over 200,000 orphaned or abandoned children in homes throughout the Midwest from 1854 to 1929 by recounting the story of one boy and his brothers.

"In 1850, Sophie Neumann flees New York with her two young charges after witnessing a crime. Reinhold Weiss has finally purchased his own small farm when an old friend shows up, pleading for help. But how can he help her when mounting debts and past scars still haunt him?" --

A twelve-year-old Polish American girl is boarded onto an orphan train in Chicago with fears about traveling to the West and to the hazards of a new life. In 1881, 12-year-old Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski wishes she didn't have to board the orphan train in Chicago. But she has no home, no family, and no choice. Rodzina doesn't believe the orphans are on their way out West to be adopted by good families. She's sure they will become slaves...

Provides three perspectives on the trains that brought orphans and poor children from the crowded East Coast to better homes in the Midwest and West from 1854 to 1929.

She's loved him for as long as she can remember. But can she trust her heart to a man haunted by constant danger? Shiloh, Oregon, April 1887 Victoria Snyder, adopted when she was only days old, pastes on a smile for her mama's wedding day, but inside she's all atremble. Lawman Rocky Jordan is back home. And this time he's got a bullet hole in his shoulder and enough audacity to come calling. Since tragedy seems to strike those she cares for with uncanny...

"With his mother dead, his father gone, and his older brothers and sisters unable to help, eight-year-old Ethan Cooper knows it's his responsibility to keep him and his younger siblings together--even if that means going to an orphanage. Ethan, Alice, Simon, and Will settle into the Briarlane Christian Children's Home, where there's plenty to eat, plenty of work, and plenty of talk about a Father who never leaves. Even so, Ethan fears losing the only...

Spring Hill is the orphan train's last stop, a final chance for Simon McKay to find homes for his young charges. When his fellow placing agent quits, Simon enlists help from the frontier town's pretty schoolteacher. Cecilia Holbrook is as intriguing as she is independent, yet Simon's devotion to his mission will soon call him back to New York. Cecilia is already fighting the school board to keep her position. Now she's struggling not to lose her heart...

"Since their mama died and their pa left, Ethan, Alice, Simon, and Will Cooper have not known much of a home. But now that the orphan train has taken them to Mr. and Mrs. Rush in Nebraska, their dreams of home may become a reality. The kids discover that life on a farm is full of challenges. Ethan learns how to drive a plow, watch for snakes, and deal with bullies at the country school. Alice learns to slop the hogs and live with a big sister who...