THE HEART'S LONELY SECRET by Jane Peart

This was another good story in the "Orphan Train West" series.  The author does a good job of letting you feel what each of these children might have been thinking and feeling as their live's are forever changed.  They are first of all left at an Orphanage, some with hopes of the parents coming back for them, then they are put on a train to be "given" to a family that they have no say in.

Ivy Austin dreams of what it would be like to be free from the drudgery of the orphanage.  But when she is "given" to a family, her life in the circus is hard and demanding.  When she hurts herself she finds herself abandoned and put on the Orphan Train.  There she meets and befriends Allison, a shy, lonely and frightened little girl.  Together they are both adopted by folks in the same town, but with very different lifestyles.  Still, the girls remain friends throughout their growing up years.  It was enjoyable to watch all that these two young ladies go through, yet that bond of friendship is never broken.  These "Orphan Train West" stories have all been well written and do a good job of helping you to see what it might have been like to live during that time in history and to have traveled on the train West and been adopted.  A good set of books to read to learn more about that time in history.