A Place For Me tracks one of the children put on the orphan train in the early 1900's. Like ninety five percent of children who were labeled as orphans, Dora, the author's grandmother, was not an orphan. Instead, her mother gave her children up when she could no longer care for them. Taken from her bed and separated from her brothers, Dora's train ride from the small town of Ullin to an orphanage in Chicago was only the beginning of her journey to find a place where she would belong.
Dora was nine years old when Joseph Leopold Murphy, a wealthy influential lawyer, took her in to raise until she was the age of majority. Murphy died four years later, and Dora was thrust into a world of intrigue that surrounded Murphy's death and the "Famous Murphy Will Trial", and how Dora helped leave a positive legacy in Camden. Set against the backdrop of the Illinois prairies at a time when the Wright brothers made the first flight and Bell's Model 102 telephone was introduced, McKay weaves an incredible story about a little girl who survived unspeakable loss. Forced into servitude at a young age she wondered who would care for her and, more important, who would care about her. This is a compelling story about a little girl who learned to stand up for herself, who became a remarkable young woman with a deep love for family.
