Reading Groups

The Girl Orphan in Literature with Amanda Hollander

This product is currently out of stock and unavailable.

4 Sessions Thursdays, 6:00 pm EDT - 7:30 pm EDT April 10 to June 12, 2025

The Center for Fiction

featured-images.reading-groups.2025-spring-b2.145-1492

The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at a 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
4/10, 5/8, 5/29, 6/12
In Person at The Center for Fiction

The early twentieth century had a particular fascination with orphanhood and what it meant to be separated from family identity in a rapidly evolving world. Alongside the technological evolution were widespread fears of human degeneration popularized by theories like those of French psychologist B.A. Morel. Yet even as anxieties and disturbing pseudoscience began to arise about heredity, there was also no point in history where the orphan protagonist had more sustaining power in popular children’s literature. So popular, in fact, these novels have endured in readership, cultural power, and influence.

Although these books remain beloved, they are often overlooked as serious intellectual enterprises as they consider where girlhood merges with this trope. Is the way out of the marginalization of orphanhood through imagination? Found family? Adoption? Marriage? Or even in the most imaginative of circumstances, via tornado? Or is orphanhood, counterintuitively, a pathway to forging a freer identity, and an unexpected avenue for agency?

In this group we will read four of the most influential novels featuring girl orphans from the time period including, The Secret Garden, Daddy-Long-Legs, Anne of Green Gables, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. We will also consider the historical context in which these novels are published (1900-1912) and their political significance, accidental or deliberate.

What to read in advance of the first meeting: Participants should have read The Secret Garden in its entirety before the first class. The supplemental material in this edition is optional.

What to expect from this reading group: This course is participant-driven with a focus on lively conversation and supplemental information provided by the instructor.

Reading List:

Capacity: 20

featured-images.reading-groups.2025-spring-b2.145-1492

Led by

  • Amanda-Hollander-scaled Medium

    Amanda Hollander

    Amanda Hollander

    A writer and opera librettist, Amanda Hollander holds a doctorate in Victorian and children’s literature from UCLA. She recently completed a fellowship with the American Opera Project. She has published several works of speculative short fiction and academic articles and was a 2024 fellow at the Huntington Library. You can find more about her upcoming projects at amandahollander.com.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

Groups+Workshops
More Groups+Workshops
Groups+Workshops

Discover More Upcoming Groups + Workshops