Kristen Martin
The orphan story has been mythologized. Step one: While a child is still too young to form distinct memories of their parents, they die in an untimely fashion. Step two: Orphan acquires caretakers who amplify the world’s cruelty. Step three: Orphan escapes and goes on an adventure, encountering the world’s vast possibilities. The Sun Won’t Come Out Tomorrow upends this story. Alongside powerful critiques of popular orphan narratives, from Annie to The Boxcar Children to Party of Five, journalist Kristen Martin explores the real history of orphanhood in the United States from the 1800s to the present. Martin reveals the mission of religious indoctrination that drove the first orphanages, the orphan trains that took poor children out West, and the inherent racism and classism that still underlie the United States’ approach to child welfare. Through a combination of in-depth archival research, memoir (Martin herself lost both her parents as a child), and cultural analysis, The Sun Won’t C