Other editions of book The Midnight Train Home

An orphan train child escapes a coldhearted adoptive family to join a vaudeville troupe and travel to Texas to find her older brother Sean.Deirdre O'Rourke and her brothers Sean and Jimmy are sent by their mum from their tenement existence to ride one of the last of the orphan trains west, in the hope of finding a good family. Instead, all three are separated, and Deirdre is placed with a straitlaced minister and his wife, who she soon learns adopted her out of pity. Deirdre can only hope that someday she will be reunited with her beloved older brother, Sean. When at last she finds that he is on a ranch in Texas with a wonderful family, Deirdre longs to be with him, but with no money, she has no real hope of escaping. Then a vaudeville troupe comes to town on its way west. Deirdre convinces the vaudevillians to take her with them, and suddenly her life takes on a real purpose: getting to Texas. But along the way, Deirdre discovers she has a greater depth and purpose than she'd expected--and that being on stage is perhaps an even greater pull than family.

A heartwarming story of a young girl’s search for a family in the 1920s–from the orphan train to the vaudeville stage.When the O’Rourkes were kicked out of their New York City tenement apartment, 11-year-old Deirdre was sure their mother would find a way to keep them together. Instead, she put Deirdre and her brothers on an orphan train to be adopted by families out west. That was bad enough. But then Deirdre is separated from her siblings and taken in by a coldhearted minister and his wife. Desperate to find her brothers, Deirdre begs a passing vaudeville troupe to let her join their act. When Deirdre steps on board their midnight train, she has no idea just how far she’ll go in search of her family–or how much she’ll learn along the way.Erika Tamar’s rich historical novel is filled with a memorable cast of characters, and at center stage is a young girl who is determined to find love and acceptance on her own terms.

An orphan train child escapes a coldhearted adoptive family to join a vaudeville troupe and travel to Texas to find her older brother Sean.Deirdre O'Rourke and her brothers Sean and Jimmy are sent by their mum from their tenement existence to ride one of the last of the orphan trains west, in the hope of finding a good family. Instead, all three are separated, and Deirdre is placed with a straitlaced minister and his wife, who she soon learns adopted her out of pity. Deirdre can only hope that someday she will be reunited with her beloved older brother, Sean. When at last she finds that he is on a ranch in Texas with a wonderful family, Deirdre longs to be with him, but with no money, she has no real hope of escaping. Then a vaudeville troupe comes to town on its way west. Deirdre convinces the vaudevillians to take her with them, and suddenly her life takes on a real purpose: getting to Texas. But along the way, Deirdre discovers she has a greater depth and purpose than she'd expected--and that being on stage is perhaps an even greater pull than family.