The Orphan's Tale

Set across Europe during the Second World War, American author and legal academic Pam Jenoff’s novel The Orphan’s Tale (2017) follows 16-year-old Noa as she rescues a Jewish baby and joins the circus to protect him. The story is loosely based on true events: a boxcar full of “Unknown Children” who died en route to a concentration camp, and the Circus Althoff, a touring circus that hid Jewish refugees during the War. The Orphan’s Tale made the New York Times’ bestseller list.

Dutch teenager Noa begins an affair with a soldier in the occupying German army. When she becomes pregnant, she can no longer hide the affair from her parents. Horrified, they kick her out of their home. Noa gives birth to her child, but under the Nazi regime’s “Lebensborn” program, the baby is taken from her, to be raised by an ideologically sound German family. Heartbroken, Noa wanders aimlessly, until she ends up working at a train station in Germany, where she also lives. Trains full of Jewish people pass through the station on their way to the concentration camps.

One day she discovers, unattended at a station platform, a train car full of babies. She suspects that they are Jewish children, destined for the camps. Most of them are already dead, but the baby nearest the door is still alive. Without a moment’s thought, Noa snatches up the child and runs for her life.



It is a bitter winter. Noa must keep moving in case she is being pursued, and anyway, she has nowhere to go. Just as she has run out of food and fears that she and the baby she has rescued will starve or freeze, she stumbles upon the Circus Neuhoff, at its winter rehearsal site.

A performer named Astrid takes pity on Noa and her baby, whom Noa claims is her brother, “Theo.” Astrid is middle-aged, and Noa is deeply impressed by the older woman’s grace, strength, and beauty. Astrid introduces Noa to her partner, the Russian clown Peter, and to the ringmaster, Herr Neuhoff, who agrees to take Astrid in if she will train as an aerialist (a trapeze artist).

Noa accepts this bargain, and Astrid—an aerialist herself—is assigned to train her. As Noa learns this challenging and perilous trade, she also comes to understand the lives of the performers. She sees that under their grace and good humor, Astrid and Peter are long-suffering. The many years of traveling and performing have taken their toll, and both are troubled by the constant presence of German military patrols. Peter’s act involves making fun of the Nazis: he knows that it is potentially dangerous, but he will not give up his small protest.



As Astrid comes to trust Noa, she reveals her real identity. She is a Jewish woman named Ingrid. Before the rise of the Nazi regime, she had been married to a German army officer, Erich, who was forced to divorce her when the Nazis came to power.

Spring comes, and the Circus leaves its winter quarters to tour France. Their first stop is the town of Thiers. They parade into the town while the townsfolk gather to watch, and Noa begins to understand the value of the circus to others besides herself: “Adults watch us with the wonder of children. The circus had always brought light to the places it visited. Now, it is a lifeline.”

Noa meets and falls for a young man named Luc, who she learns is the Mayor’s son. Astrid warns her against pursuing a relationship with him, because his father is cooperating with the German occupation force. Noa respects her advice.



Peter performs his Nazi-mocking act, and German soldiers arrest him. Astrid, heartbroken, can do nothing to defend him without risking her life. Noa begs Luc to speak to his father, but the Mayor refuses to stand up to his German masters. Appalled, Luc runs away from home to join the French Resistance.

Herr Neuhoff takes it upon himself to confront the German garrison, but the stress and fear of the encounter cause him to have a heart attack, and he dies.

Ownership of the circus falls to Herr Neuhoff’s son, Emmet, who has never loved the business. He immediately makes plans to cut short the tour, fire most of the performers, and sell the circus’s assets.



Meanwhile, Astrid is faced with an almost impossible choice. Her brother Erich has made a life for himself in America. He has set up a bank account in her name, with enough money to pay for her to join him. However, to do so, she must leave Peter behind.

Fearing that she and Theo will soon be alone, Noa decides to follow Luc into the Resistance. She makes an appointment to meet him in secret, but he doesn’t show up.

When Noa returns to the circus, she finds the big top on fire. Astrid is trapped inside. Noa charges in, dragging Astrid to safety, but she becomes trapped herself. Knowing that she will die, she asks Astrid to take baby Theo and go to America.



In an epilogue, Astrid—now elderly—returns to Paris to see an exhibit about the glory days of the circus. We learn that she has spent much of her life trying to reconstruct the fates of her loved ones. She knows that Peter died at Auschwitz and that Luc was captured and killed by the Germans (which is why he failed to meet Noa).

Theo, now grown up, arrives in Paris with his “sister,” Petra (Astrid’s daughter by Peter). They take Astrid home.