There is something rather remarkable about orphans in stories, if you think of it—because an orphan, you see, must invent herself entirely. She cannot rely upon what her mother told her at breakfast or what her father expects her to become at supper. She must decide for herself what sort of person she shall be, and this, as any sensible reader knows, is precisely when the most thrilling adventures begin.
The books collected here represent the very finest tales of orphans in all of literature—stories of children who, despite being cast adrift in an unforgiving world, manage to find courage, friendship, and their own particular sort of magic. Whether you seek a classic that has charmed generations or a modern adventure to share with your own young ones, you shall find something wonderful within these pages.
The Wendy by Erin Michelle Sky and Steven Brown
If one were to imagine a tale in which a young orphan girl refuses to accept the narrow life that society has prescribed for her—in which she dreams of sailing ships and grand adventure rather than mending stockings and minding babies—well, one would have imagined The Wendy, and a very good imagining it would be.
This Peter Pan retelling, set in the late eighteenth century, follows Wendy Darling from her days as a foundling in a London almshouse to her improbable position in England’s secret service, defending the realm against magical forces most peculiar. The narrative voice is wonderfully witty, with the sort of understated humour that makes one laugh aloud when one really oughtn’t. Wendy herself is headstrong and clever, with an expressive eyebrow that speaks volumes and a secret kiss hiding at the corner of her mouth.
What makes this book particularly splendid is how it reinvents familiar characters whilst honouring the spirit of the original. Captain Hook is deliciously complex, Peter Pan is charmingly unpredictable, and Tinker Bell… well, Tinker Bell is not quite what one might expect. The magic smells green and tastes like pickles, if you can imagine such a thing—and by the end, you shall find that you can.
Readers of all ages have declared it “a modern classic” and “the best YA fiction in years.” The complete trilogy is now available, so you needn’t wait to discover what becomes of our intrepid heroine. Simply follow the second star to the right, and straight on ’til morning.
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
In which an enthusiastic, red-haired orphan girl arrives at a Prince Edward Island farm by mistake—the Cuthberts had requested a boy, you understand—and promptly proceeds to charm absolutely everyone, including the most reluctant reader.
Anne Shirley has been bouncing from home to home, never truly wanted, until Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert agree to let her stay. What follows is a tale of belonging, imagination, and the peculiar magic that occurs when kindred spirits find one another. Mark Twain himself declared Anne “the most lovable child in fiction since Alice,” and one cannot easily argue with Mark Twain.
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Perhaps you have heard the phrase “Please, sir, I want some more.” This is where it comes from, and the child who speaks it is about to have rather a difficult time of things.
Oliver Twist, born in a workhouse and set upon by adversity from his first breath, navigates a London underworld of pickpockets, villains, and the occasional kind soul. Dickens wrote this tale with fury in his heart—fury at a society that treated its poorest children as disposable—and that righteous anger gives the story its power. Yet there is tenderness too, and ultimately, the proper fairy-tale reward.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Here is an orphan who defies the very heavens. Young Jane, mistreated by her relations and sent to a grim school where children are not expected to have opinions, grows into a woman of remarkable independence and self-reliance.
Never before had a novel given such voice to a child standing up to injustice, and Victorian readers were quite shocked by it all. But Jane, with her passionate spirit and quiet dignity, captured hearts then and continues to capture them still. This is a story about the quest for love, certainly—but also about the deeper quest for belonging and self-worth.
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Mary Lennox is not a likeable child when we first meet her—spoiled, disagreeable, and thoroughly unpleasant. But then, she has just lost both parents to cholera in India and been shipped off to a gloomy Yorkshire manor, so perhaps we might extend her some grace.
What happens next is nothing short of miraculous. Mary discovers a locked garden, long abandoned, and in bringing it back to life, she brings herself back to life as well. This is a tale of transformation and healing, of the magnificent power of nature upon the human spirit, and of the friendships that save us when we did not know we needed saving.
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Sara Crewe, daughter of a wealthy captain, is treated as a princess at Miss Minchin’s boarding school—until the terrible day when word arrives that her father has died and lost every penny. Suddenly Sara must live in a cold attic and work as a servant.
But here is the thing about Sara: she decides to remain a princess in her imagination, regardless of her circumstances. This is a story about maintaining one’s dignity and kindness even when the world is most unkind, and it has won children over for generations.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Young Pip, an orphan living in the marshes of Kent, has a chance encounter with an escaped convict that sets his entire life spinning in unexpected directions. When a mysterious benefactor grants him a fortune and the chance to become a gentleman, Pip believes all his dreams are coming true.
But dreams, as any sensible person knows, have a habit of twisting themselves about. This bildungsroman explores what happens when our great expectations lead us astray, and how we might find our way back to what truly matters: loyalty, compassion, and the relationships that make us who we are.
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
The Baudelaire orphans—Violet, Klaus, and young Sunny—lose their parents in a mysterious fire and find themselves pursued by the villainous Count Olaf, who wishes to steal their fortune. What follows is a series of thirteen books in which virtually everything goes wrong.
The narrator, Lemony Snicket, warns readers repeatedly to abandon these tales because they contain nothing but misery. He is, of course, not to be trusted on this point. These books are darkly humorous, wonderfully literary, and have sold more than sixty million copies for very good reason.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
The boy who lived under the stairs at Number Four, Privet Drive, discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is a wizard—and a famous one at that. Harry Potter, orphaned as an infant when a dark wizard murdered his parents, has been raised by relatives who treated him abominably.
His journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry begins one of the most beloved fantasy series ever written. The orphan theme runs throughout all seven books, as Harry grapples with grief, identity, and the love that protected him even after his parents were gone.
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
When James Henry Trotter loses his parents in a horrible rhinoceros accident (do not ask how; it is too dreadful), he is sent to live with two wicked aunts who make his life perfectly miserable.
Then a mysterious old man gives James a bag of magic crystals, a peach grows to the size of a house, and suddenly our young hero is rolling across the Atlantic Ocean with a collection of oversized insects as his companions. Roald Dahl was a champion of the underdog, and this macabre yet imaginative adventure proves it splendidly.
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Sophie lives in an orphanage and cannot sleep one night, which is how she happens to spot a giant walking down the street with a suitcase and a trumpet. The giant spots her too, and before Sophie can say “gobblefunk,” she has been whisked away to Giant Country.
Fortunately, this particular giant is the Big Friendly Giant, who catches dreams in jars and gives them to sleeping children. Together, Sophie and the BFG devise a plan to stop the other, less friendly giants from eating humans—a plan that involves a visit to the Queen of England. It is friendship and courage in the most unexpected packaging.
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
A five-year-old orphan is deposited with her gruff grandfather high in the Swiss Alps, and what might have been a tragedy becomes instead a tale of pure joy. Heidi’s cheerful spirit transforms her reclusive grandfather, her goatherd friend Peter, and eventually a sickly girl named Klara from Frankfurt.
The fresh mountain air, the goat’s milk, the wildflowers—Johanna Spyri captures it all so vividly that readers have been escaping to those Alps for over a century. This is a book about the healing power of nature and of love freely given.
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
In the summer of 1932, twelve-year-old Odie O’Banion and his brother Albert are confined to a brutal Indian training school in Minnesota. When terrible circumstances force them to flee, they steal a canoe and set off down the river with their best friend Mose and a young orphan girl named Emmy.
This modern classic, often compared to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, follows four lost children through the magnificent American landscape, crossing paths with struggling farmers, traveling healers, and displaced families. It is an enthralling, big-hearted epic about the search for a place to call home.
There you have it—thirteen stories of orphans who refused to be defeated by their circumstances. Some are classics that have charmed readers for a century or more; others are modern adventures that deserve to become classics in their turn. Each one proves what storytellers have always known: that a child without parents, cast upon the world with nothing but courage and wit, can accomplish the most extraordinary things.
Now then. Which shall you read first?
