{"id":200,"date":"2026-08-26T17:03:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/?p=200"},"modified":"2026-08-27T11:19:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T11:19:52","slug":"the-fleetwood-half-orphan-asylum-a-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/?p=200","title":{"rendered":"The Fleetwood Half-Orphan Asylum, a novel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4oVwFFH\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"409\" height=\"646\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fleetwood-cover300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fleetwood-cover300.jpg 409w, https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fleetwood-cover300-190x300.jpg 190w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 409px) 100vw, 409px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s 1927, in Middleton, somewhere in the middle of the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After their mother vanishes, two young brothers \u2013 Amos, 12 and Horace, 10 \u2013 find themselves facing a six-month stay at an orphanage while their father sorts out his life. Three years on the elder son runs away, leaving the younger behind. The brothers meet again for the first time after more than thirty years at their father\u2019s deathbed. They fight and storm out of the house in different directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thirty-odd years further on, Horace&#8217;s son receives a letter and a notebook, offering revelations about his family\u2019s history. If only he&#8217;ll come half-way across America \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>The Fleetwood Half-Orphan Asylum<\/strong><\/em> is a story of brotherhood and family secrets. It deals with race, religion, what caring means, and \u2013 most of all \u2013 <em>love and the absence thereof<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>5* reviews on Amazon and Goodreads:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTHE FLEETWOOD HALF-ORPHAN ASYLUM is an inventive novel that provokes serious thought and offers numerous insights. It is artful, engaging and highly recommended.\u201d      \u2013 Robert Crooke, author of <em>Letting the House Go<\/em> and other novels<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a beautifully written, deeply humane novel about brotherhood, loss and the long shadows cast by family silence.&nbsp;\u2026 This is a thoughtful, moving and richly layered novel about the need for love and belonging across a lifetime. I found it deeply affecting and warmly recommend it.\u201d \u2013 Natalia<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;Get my novel, <em>The Fleetwood Half-Orphan Asylum<\/em>, at <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4oVwFFH\">Amazon<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/donnordbergwriting.substack.com\/p\/update-where-to-buy-the-fleetwood\">other retailers<\/a> \u2013 or with a subscription to \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/donnordbergwriting.substack.com\/p\/update-where-to-buy-the-fleetwood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Don Nordberg (is\/on) writing<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s 1927, in Middleton, somewhere in the middle of the United States. After their mother vanishes, two young brothers \u2013 Amos, 12 and Horace, 10 \u2013 find themselves facing a six-month stay at an orphanage while their father sorts out his life. Three years on the elder son runs away, leaving the younger behind. The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/?p=200\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Fleetwood Half-Orphan Asylum, a novel<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[38,37],"class_list":["post-200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-literary-writing","tag-literary-fiction","tag-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=200"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":207,"href":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions\/207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nordberg.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}