New York Times and USA Today Bestseller
In this stunning new historical novel inspired by true events, Kim van Alkemade tells the fascinating story of a woman who must choose between revenge and mercy when she encounters the doctor who subjected her to dangerous medical experiments in a New York City Jewish orphanage years before.
In 1919, Rachel Rabinowitz is a vivacious four-year-old living with her family in a crowded tenement on New York City's Lower Eastside. When tragedy strikes, Rachel is separated from her brother Sam and sent to a Jewish orphanage where Dr. Mildred Solomon is conducting medical research. Subjected to X-ray treatments that leave her disfigured, Rachel suffers years of cruel harassment from the other orphans. But when she turns fifteen, she runs away to Colorado hoping to find the brother she lost and discovers a family she never knew she had.
Though Rachel believes she's shut out her painful childhood memories, years later she is confronted with her dark past when she becomes a nurse at Manhattan's Old Hebrews Home and her patient is none other than the elderly, cancer-stricken Dr. Solomon. Rachel becomes obsessed with making Dr. Solomon acknowledge, and pay for, her wrongdoing. But each passing hour Rachel spends with the old doctor reveal to Rachel the complexities of her own nature. She realizes that a person's fate--to be one who inflicts harm or one who heals--is not always set in stone.
Lush in historical detail, rich in atmosphere and based on true events, Orphan #8 is a powerful, affecting novel of the unexpected choices we are compelled to make that can shape our destinies.
About the Author :
Kim van Alkemade is a New York Times bestselling author whose work has been translated into eleven languages. After a career teaching writing at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, she now works at an independent bookstore in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she lives with her partner, their rescue dog, and two feisty backyard chickens. The Upstate Dispatch is her fourth novel.
Ginny Auer's passion is sharing stories that matter--her own, and those of worthy individuals and organizations. During her creative career she has worked as an actor, model, singer, speech teacher, and voice talent. Ginny has also served as spokesperson, fundraiser, and lead storyteller for nonprofit organizations that focus on science education, community health, and women's well-being. Her latest adventure was an eighty-two-day, cross-country train tour of the US with her eight-year-old daughter. Ginny plans to share their stories, and her perspective on widowhood and what comes next, through her Live Huge blog and other creative endeavors.
Andi Arndt is a professional voice actor, the winner of a 2017 Audie Award for Best Romance, and winner of two Earphones Awards.
Review :
"A powerful story of festering vengeance and redemption that touches readers on many levels. This is a tale of heroism and courage, as well as anger and realism--a story of horrid medical experiments and tragedy, yet filled with love and compassion."
-- "RT Book Reviews (41/2 stars)"
"Kim van Alkemade has moxie. In her provocative novel, family is saturated with betrayal, care is interrupted by ambition and desire, and the past is intimately explored, invoking the abandoned child in all of us. Orphan # 8 brims with complicated passions and pitch-perfect historical details. A riveting, memorable debut."
-- "Catherine Zobal Dent, author of Unfinished Stories of Girls"
"The story of how Rachel gains agency--psychologically, bodily, and romantically--never feels forced. This is not a plucky orphan narrative; ingrained years of submissive behavior often make it hard for Rachel to get out of her own way...Rachel's moments of courage still feel earned. Her burgeoning feelings for another girl at the home are treated with depth and help the story stand out from others."
-- "Library Journal"
