Now Read This: “The Orphan Keeper” by Camron Wright

Betty Martin is director of the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

Fred Lynch ~ Southeast Missourian

This month’s book recommendation is one I’ve had in my “to be read stack” for a while. After renewing it twice, it finally came time to read it. I’m not sure why I put off reading it; in the end, it was a wonderful read.

“The Orphan Keeper” is based on a true story of a young boy living in poverty in India. Seven-year-old Chellamuthus’ life is forever changed when he is kidnapped, sold to the Lincoln Home for Homeless Children and adopted by an unsuspecting American couple. Once he learns English, they are horrified to learn he is not, in fact, an orphan. However, no one can help them get information about his birth family, so they love him, raise him and see him off to college.

He grows up in a community where his is the only dark face. When he goes to England to spend a semester abroad, he is housed by an Indian family. Here, he learns about Indian culture for the first time and begins to yearn to meet his birth family. It’s only after he falls in love with an Indian woman that he finally has the chance to go to India for the first time, determined to find his birth family.

This is a deeply moving and gripping journey about discovering one’s self and the unbreakable family bonds that connect us forever.

The author has written two other books. The library owns a hard copy of his “Letters to Emily,” as well as access to an e-book copy of “The Rent Collector.” The author has such a readable style, I am anxious to read both of these, as well.

The entire time I was reading “The Orphan Keeper,” I kept thinking it reminded me of a movie I had borrowed from the library. The movie “Lion” is another true story about a young Indian boy who falls asleep on a train in India and wakes up miles away from his home. He’s so young he can’t make it on his own or find his way home. He is taken to a children’s home and adopted by an Australian family. When he reaches adulthood, he too yearns to find his birth family and travels to India to find them. This movie is based on the book “A Long Way Home” by Saroo Brierley. The library has a copy of both the book and the DVD.

Happy Readings!