The Orphan's Tale

Name: The Orphan's Tale
ISBN: 9780778319818

A Novel

Pam Jenoff

A powerful novel of friendship set in a traveling circus during World War II, The Orphan's Tale introduces two extraordinary women and their harrowing stories of sacrifice and survival.

Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep... When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night.

Noa finds refuge with a German circus, but she must learn the flying trapeze act so she can blend in undetected, spurning the resentment of the lead aerialist, Astrid. At first rivals, Noa and Astrid soon forge a powerful bond. But as the facade that protects them proves increasingly tenuous, Noa and Astrid must decide whether their friendship is enough to save one another—or if the secrets that burn between them will destroy everything.

"A tribute to the human spirit that soars in the midst of epic despair." —NPR

"Pam Jenoff is one of the most important and authentic voices in historical fiction today." —Lisa Scottoline, bestselling author

"Secrets, lies, treachery, and passion... I read this novel in a headlong rush." —Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train

"[A] heartbreaking and breathtaking story.... Jenoff's prose is evocative and compelling." —The Globe and Mail

"Christina Baker Kline's Orphan Train has collided with the circus caravan from Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants.... Jenoff has written a tribute to the human spirit that soars in the midst of epic despair." —NPR

"Readers who enjoyed Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale and Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants will embrace this novel." —Library Journal

"Beautiful, ethereal, and poignant, The Orphan's Tale is a novel you won't be able to put down." —Bustle

"A compelling and beautifully told story about the power of female friendship, with all its complications." —PopSugar

"The Orphan's Tale is not one person's story of abandonment but that of a generation lost to history. With a detailed command of circus life, unexpected twists and parallel narratives, Pam Jenoff uses the circus's mystique to symbolize each character's secrets." —Shelf Awareness

"A gripping story about the power of friendship to save and redeem even in the darkest of circumstances. This is a book not to be missed." —Melanie Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator's Wife

"Jenoff expertly performs a pirouetting tale worthy of a standing ovation.... The Orphan's Tale proves that the human spirit defies hate, fear, and gravity with a triumphant ta-da!" —Sarah McCoy, New York Times bestselling author of The Mapmaker's Children

"Riveting.... With deftness and emotion, Jenoff sets in motion a compelling story of friendship and courage." —Charles Belfoure, author of The Paris Architect and House of Thieves

About the Author

Pam Jenoff is the New York Times bestselling author of historical novels centered on the Second World War and the Holocaust. Her fiction gives voice to Jewish survivors, rescuers, and resisters, and to the quieter, often overlooked stories of women in wartime Europe.

Her work draws on a distinctive background. She earned degrees from George Washington University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She served as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon, and she later worked for the U.S. Consulate in Kraków, Poland, on Jewish communal and heritage issues. That experience shaped her debut, The Kommandant’s Girl, and her many novels set in occupied Poland and beyond.

Her books return to themes central to Jewish memory: hiding and rescue, the fragile bonds of family and chosen family, the moral complexity of survival, and the long aftermath of loss. The Winter Guest follows Polish sisters sheltering a Jewish American soldier. The Orphan’s Tale centers on a Jewish infant, a circus troupe, and the women who protect him. The Woman with the Blue Star tells of Jews hiding in the Kraków sewers. The Lost Girls of Paris traces women of the Allied resistance.

Jenoff lives near Philadelphia with her family and teaches law at Rutgers Law School.