Orphan Keeper (Wright)

The Orphan Keeper 
Camron Wright, 2016
Shadow Mountain Publishing
432 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781629722245


Summary
Seven-year-old Chellamuthu’s life—and his destiny—is forever changed when he is kidnapped from his village in Southern India and sold to the Lincoln Home for Homeless Children.

His family is desperate to find him, and Chellamuthu anxiously tells the Indian orphanage that he is not an orphan, he has a mother who loves him. But he is told not to worry, he will soon be adopted by a loving family in America.

Chellamuthu is suddenly surrounded by a foreign land and a foreign language. He can’t tell people that he already has a family and becomes consumed by a single, impossible question: How do I get home?

But after more than a decade, home becomes a much more complicated idea as the Indian boy eventually sheds his past and receives a new name: Taj Khyber Rowland.

It isn’t until Taj meets an Indian family who helps him rediscover his roots, as well as marrying Priya, his wife, who helps him unveil the secrets of his past, that he begins to discover the truth he has all but forgotten. Taj is determined to return to India and begin the quest to find his birth family.

But is it too late? Is it possible that his birth mother is still looking for him? And which family does he belong to now?

From the best-selling author of The Rent Collector, this is a deeply moving and gripping journey about discovering one’s self and the unbreakable family bonds that connect us forever. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
Camron Wright was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has a master’s degree in Writing and Public Relations from Westminster College.

He has owned several successful retail stores, in addition to working with his wife in the fashion industry, designing for the McCall Pattern Company in New York.

Camron began writing to get out of attending MBA School at the time and it proved the better decision. Letters for Emily was a “Readers Choice” award winner, as well as a selection of the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild. In addition to North America, it was published in several foreign countries.

His book, The Rent Collector, won Book of the Year, Fiction, from ForeWord Reviews; Best Novel of the Year from the Whitney Awards; and was a nominee for the prestigious International Dublin Literary Award.

Camron lives with his wife, Alicyn, in Utah, just south of Salt Lake City, at the base of the Wasatch mountains. He is the proud father of four children. (From the author's webpagege.)

Book Reviews
Armed with a map drawn from memory, Taj returns to India to search for his birth family. Wright (The Rent Collector, 2012) turns the story of the real-life Chellamuthu/Taj into a meditation on identity and the meaning of family, and a novel that is sure to be a book club favorite.
Booklist

 
When I finished The Orphan Keeper I was keenly aware of the fragility associated with losing something precious then finding something of even greater value. Beautifully crafted by Camron Wright.... Like Dickens, the child in this story is subjected to loss leavened with love.  Everything that happens is not fiction. It happened as written, and for a reader who waivers between agnosticism and belief, this is a story that has me — and keeps me — thinking. The loss and pain [is] described with consummate skill. The Orphan Keeper taps into questions of coincidence and belief that have kept me in a state of wonder since I reluctantly closed its covers. Amazing read.
Huffington Post


Truly a remarkable story of one young man’s journey to discover his past. Camron Wright’s fascinating novel is actually based on a true story, which makes it all the more powerful."
(four and a half out of five stars)
Portland Book Review


Fascinating novel paints a detailed picture of India far from the glamour of Bollywood, and takes the reader deep into what it means to lose a family and be transplanted into a new culture. It also details the drive of an adult to rediscover what was lost. Taj’s story entertains and touches the heart.
Washington Independent Review of Books


A deftly crafted and consistently compelling read from beginning to end. Riveting story of self-discovery and will prove to be an enduring popular addition to community library collections. Very highly recommended.
Midwest Book Review

Discussion Questions
1. The book’s dedication reads: To the lost child in all of us, searching for home. Can you relate to the plight of little lost Chellamuthu? In what ways are you also an orphan? In what ways are you an orphan keeper? Who in the story could be called an orphan keeper? Why?

2. Eli poses the question, “If a child is kidnapped from hell and carried to heaven, should we condemn the kidnapper?” How would you answer? Was Eli saving children by taking them out of poverty and abuse to give them a chance at a better life, or was he condemning them? Is there any justification for his actions?

3. It’s not unusual in India for kidnapped children to be intentionally maimed and then forced to beg on the streets in order to collect money for those caring for them. It has been argued that giving to these children encourages the practice. If you walked past such a child, would you give or refrain? Why?

4. When Taj returned to India as an adult, he remembered the orphanage as being three to four hours away from his home. If you were a kidnapped child of seven, would you have been able to gauge the distance so accurately? Why would Taj (Chellamuthu) have perhaps been more mature than the average seven-year-old American?

5. The Lincoln Home for Homeless Children was established to help poor Indian orphans find new homes. Did it lose its purpose over time? Is greed always destined to push noble aspirations aside? How can the slide to greed be prevented?

6. Linda quotes The Phoenician Women, by Euripides: “This is slavery, not to speak one’s thought.” How was Chellamuthu enslaved? How do we enslave ourselves in a similar manner?

7. It was an amazing coincidence that Priya, when first dating Taj, discovered a letter written years earlier by her own father to Fred and Linda Rowland. Later, Taj coincidentally met Vakesh, a child with whom he had played at the orphanage. Later still, as Taj drove past his unrecognizable childhood home, he would hear the hacking of coconuts, causing him to stop, listen, and remember. Do you believe in coincidence? Are our lives guided strictly by chance, or is there something more that might explain these situations?

8. Linda dreamed that Taj would marry an Indian girl, which he eventually did. How important are dreams in our lives? Can they predict the future? If yes, how is that possible?

9. When Taj  saw Priya’s picture, it was love at first sight, with his instant declaration that he was going to marry her. Do you believe in love at first sight? Is it rational? Why? Why not?

10. Many Indian parents still arrange the marriages of their children. What might be the benefits of arranged marriage? What might be the drawbacks?

11. Taj eventually discovered that he was actually from a higher caste than Priya and her family. What do you know about the caste system in India? Why do you suppose it has endured for so many years? How would you respond if you were taught that you could never rise above the duties of your caste? Although we don’t follow a caste system in the United States, do socioeconomic conditions often limit our potential? What other conditions might also be limiting?

12. When Taj was desperate for help to search for his family, he begged Christopher Raj, a man he’d just met in person the day before, to take time off work, leave his family, and return to Coimbatore to assist. Christopher, with barely a hesitation, jumped on the train for another ten-hour trip to help Taj. Would you have made a similar decision for a virtual stranger? It turned out to be a choice that dramatically changed the course of Christopher’s life (and that of Taj). What lessons can be learned from Christopher’s actions? How careful should we be with our own everyday decisions and how we interact with others?

13. In the story, Arayi visits with three astrologers. The last one tells her that her son will return, and when he does, he will fly. Although the timing of this visit to this astrologer was presented in the book as having occurred shortly after Chellamuthu was taken (for the sake of pacing and plot), in real life, it occurred years later, about eight months before Taj actually returned. Do you believe there is any validity to astrology? If not, how does one explain the accuracy of the astrologer’s prediction?

14. What in the story points to the possibility that Chellamuthu’s father sold him to the orphanage? What points to the probability that his father was not involved? Does it matter? Why? Why not?

15. Taj cherishes his wife and daughters, family he would not have if he had remained in India. That said, he still feels conflicted over having been ripped from his family in India as a child. Should Taj be grateful he was kidnapped, or should he be angry?

16. In the final pages of the book, Priya talks with Taj about his father’s possible involvement in his kidnapping, as well as Taj’s ongoing angst. When Taj confides that sharing his story has helped, she notes that stories are redemptive. Is she right? What parallels can be drawn between the telling of stories and redemption?
(Questions from the author's website.)

top of page (summary)