The Orphan Collector: A Heroic Novel of Survival During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic
(Kensington, 2020)
Please join us on Thursday, August 27, at 5 p.m., for a 2020 Virtual History Book Festival “Spirited Discussion” with Ellen Marie Wiseman, author of The Orphan Collector: A Heroic Novel of Survival during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic (Penguin Random House, 2020). Vida Engstrand will interview Wiseman. This event is free but registration is required.
About the book
In the fall of 1918, Philadelphians are celebrating the end of World War I when an even more urgent threat arrives: an influenza pandemic. After her mother’s brutally sudden death, thirteen-year-old German immigrant Pia Lange must leave their tenement apartment to find food for her two baby brothers. Then she herself falls ill and after a hospital stay is forced into an orphanage. Pia runs away to find her brothers, while a woman who is perhaps a greater threat than the virus itself plots to keep them separated.
About the author
Ellen Marie Wiseman is the bestselling author of several works of historical fiction, including What She Left Behind, The Plum Tree, and The Life She Was Given. Her novels have been translated into eighteen languages and published worldwide.
Vida Engstrand is the Director of Communications at Kensington Publishing, where she has worked with the company’s diverse list of books and authors since 2011.
How to attend the online event
The event will be shared using Zoom—an easy, reliable platform for video and audio conferencing. Here are basic written instructions for using Zoom and a brief video tutorial.
All registered attendees will receive a follow-up email from “LibCal” with Zoom log-in information. If you don’t receive this email after registering, please check your SPAM folder. If you still can’t locate the email, please contact info@historybookfestival.org.
Purchase the book
Please help support local independent bookstores by purchasing this book at Browseabout Books, official bookseller of the History Book Festival. Online sources and digital versions are tempting; however, supporting local brick and mortar shops helps to preserve our vibrant main streets. Drop by Browseabout, order books online, or call the store at 302-226-2665. You also may purchase a copy at biblion in Lewes. Each copy purchased comes with a signed archival bookplate.
About the Festival
2020 Virtual History Book Festival: Bring History Home is sponsored by Delaware Humanities and The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group.
The HBF “Spirited Discussion” is one of the types of programming offered this year at 2020 Virtual History Book Festival: Bring History Home. We are extremely grateful for the virtual venue and assistance in event promotion provided by the Lewes Public Library, in conjunction with the Delaware Division of Libraries and Sussex County Libraries.