Five children from the orphan train. Can the eldest protect the rest?
About Slow Train to Nowhere: Sean
When Sean Hussey returns
to the town where he lived as a boy, it’s with revenge on his mind. He’s made a
success of himself out west and intends to get even with the farmer under whose
thumb he once suffered. He’ll show mercy only to the others who shared his fate
in days gone by, especially sweet Jenny whose memory he still cherishes.
Sarah Rupert hasn’t had
it easy growing up as a girl from the orphan train, and as a survivor of
shocking abuse. Since the death of her husband, she’s had to support her young
son by dubious means. When Sean Hussey comes back into her life it’s a miracle,
because he’s the boy she always wanted for her own. Trouble is, Sean just may
be in love with another woman.
Our Review:
For those of us who earned our spurs under the rigors of human service
advocacy, this heart-rending tale begins with a chilling flashback: “ . . .
[the five children] all shared one thing: the shocked wide-eyed stare of a calf
being led to slaughter. . .”
Slow Train to Nowhere: Sean is
not a story for the faint-hearted. It is, however, a roadmap for the present
day because things never change—only the perpetrators—be them The Service for
Unwanted Children to the human traffickers of Southern Florida, the warlords of
East Africa who ‘employ’ child soldiers’ for their own means, or the oligarchs
of the modern Soviet Union. No matter the century or continent, victims of
brutality all carry that same wide-eyed stare. We see them every day whether we
recognize them or not.
Laura
Strickland’s courage for showcasing what happened in the past will affect
victim-survivors in their later years is sensitive and proverbial. Sean’s story
is remarkable for his resilience; Sarah in her own way is even more
resilient—for she refuses to give up. One finds themselves rooting for these
two, as well as the other orphans, to the very last page.
Based on a scale of 1-5, Slow Train to Nowhere:
Sean merits a 6.
Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews
