Guardian

Franky spends his earliest years in a New York Children's Asylum after being separated from his unmarried mother at birth. Its cold rooms, rigid rules, and distant staff are all he has known, and he has never thought to question them. Everything changes when he is chosen to travel west on an orphan train, where he begins to see that life holds far more than the institution ever offered.

A well-read judge takes Franky in, hoping to set a troubled boy on a better path. Under the judge's guidance, Franky becomes an avid reader, and his dream of joining the Army grows from the stories he devours. The judge shows him that there is more to living than fighting, but a secret from the judge's own past soon puts Franky's safety at risk.

Refusing ever to go back to the asylum, Franky sets out on his own in Detroit. He finds shelter under his uncle Tobias, known on the streets as Mouse, a respected figure in the notorious Purple Gang. Among these men Franky learns lessons no schoolbook could teach, while a violent world closes in around him and threatens to swallow up the innocent.