Orphan Train

This historical novel by Christina Baker Kline is based on a "little known but historically significant moment in our country's past. Between 1854 and 1929 [i.e., 75 years!], so-called orphan trains transported more than two hundred thousand orphaned, abandoned, and homeless childrenn--many of whom, like the character in this book, were first generation Irish Catholic immigrants--from the coastal cities of the easter United States to the Midwest for 'adoption,' which often turned out to be indentured servitude." (from the Author's notes).
That is the backbone of the story which switches back and forth between a story taking place in 2011, Spruce Harbor, Maine and that taking place in Depression-era Minnesota. A young woman in foster care arranges to help an elderly widow sort through and clean out her attic as part of a community service agreement after she steals a library book. Native American seventeen-year-old Molly Ayer has been shuffled from one miserable situation to another ever since her father was killed in a car accident; her mother is a drug addict incapable of caring for herself, much less a daughter. Vivian Daly is an apparently wealthy white woman who appears to have a priveleged life. But as the two sort through the boxes and trunks of memories and memorabilia, Molly discovers that they have a lot in common. For Vivian, born Niamh, was orphaned by a tenement fire shortly after immigrating from Ireland. She was told her entire family perished in the fire, and she became a ward of the Children's Aid Society and was shipped off to take her chances in finding a new on in the Midwest. Both of these women will give something very valuable to the other. The metaphor of "portage"--carrying your belongings as you move through life--is a both a reality and a thought exercise that the two will share in their time together.
Highlights from her interview with NPR are here. Lots of good reviews, for example Kirkus, Publishers' Weekly, and Huffington Post.