“Orphan Train” novel author Christina Baker Kline will give a book talk and signing, 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, at Valley Center Stage, 119 W North Bend Way.

This free program is sponsored by King County Library System, Valley Center Stage and the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Society.

Books will be available for sale and a book signing will follow the program.

Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan trains ran regularly from the cities of the East Coast to the farmlands of the Midwest, carrying thousands of abandoned children whose fates would be determined by pure luck. Would they be adopted by kind and loving families, or would they face a childhood and adolescence of hard labor and servitude?

Moving between contemporary Maine and Depression-era Minnesota, Christina Baker-Kline’s novel is a powerful tale of upheaval and resilience, and of second chances and unexpected friendship.