Historical Novels by Robert Noonan carry a social message… Reviewed by Charlotte Liebel
Robert Noonan, author, creates desperate relationships among 19th Century abused children in A Trilogy: Wildflowers, Bridie’s Daughter, and Secrets. These books carry a social message. Orphan children are delivered on trains. Suspenseful events at a seaport town uncover intrigue and murder. Romantic ties are severed and reunited. Heroines rescue children and heroes support their escapes.
Noonan’s stories are from letters of actual events and further research about children separated from families by death and poverty. Say what you will about children around the world today, it is no less painful to learn that thousands of impoverished children suffered in the U.S. on the East Coast during the 19th Century.
The first book, Wildflowers, begins with three young girls aged eleven years. The children’s lives in 1898 are conflicted by their dire means and search of survival. In the second book, Bridie’s Daughter, readers experience adoptions by loving parents and abusers. Parents are from an elite class, farm workers and ranchers. Some children bond with parents and find love. Others run away. The third book, Secrets, is equally suspenseful and culminates the mysteries that are left dangling in books one and two.
