The Orphans' Nine Commandments
A Memoir
by William R. Holman
The Orphans' Nine Commandments
A Memoir
by William R. Holman
When Roger Bechan was six, his mother packed his suitcase and told him they were going to Oklahoma City to visit an uncle. Instead, she took him to the Oklahoma Society for the Friendless, where he began a long journey through three orphanages and several foster homes. With all the color of the 1930s, this is a story of survival within an impersonal child-care system, a story filled with vivid characters, pathos, surprising humor, and the tenacity of a young boy who longs for a normal home and can't understand why his mother abandoned him or who his father is. No wonder he and his orphan friends omit the tenth commandment: to "honor your father and mother."
As a teenager, the boy finds a home with a supportive couple in a small Oklahoma oil town. Roger Bechan becomes William Holman, who obtains degrees from two universities, marries and raises three sons, and becomes the youngest director of the San Francisco Public Library and an award-winning book designer. Late in life, he discovers the identity of his father — and a new family.
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Book Review by Shanna Locklear
Granite, Oklahoma
The Orphans’ Nine Commandments by William R. Holman
Texas Christian University Press. Hardbound. $24.50.
Everyone should read this heartwarming book.
The Orphans’ Nine Commandments is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. It is the true, well documented story, of life during the Oklahoma dust bowl era. It follows little Roger Bechan’s journey from his first abandonment by his mother in The Oklahoma Society for the Friendless in Oklahoma City onward. Through foster home after foster home and orphanage after orphanage we see all the changes that Roger has to face. Even his name changes over and over. To this day, many of his orphan classmates know him only as Will Rogers, the most famous name change of them all.
This will make you angry, then you’ll cry in frustration at all the foolishness the adults hand out to him. But sometimes you’ll laugh at the escapades that this kid dreams up. You’ll want to shout, “No! Don’t do that!” but to no avail. He does it and the truth is you’re falling in love with this Oklahoma “Huck Finn.”
Meanwhile, the mystery in his mind will be yours; where is my father? What happened to my Mother? Will I find them before I disappear from this earth?
Be prepared! You will not be able to put Orphans Nine Commandments down. Its understated, readable prose will draw you in to the mystery and mayhem. You’ll never want the book to end.____
"As readable as a colorful novel, this (as Larry McMurty says)
is an important book, the story of a boy who overcomes his
bad angels to achieve success as the City Librarian of San Francisco."
Harold Billings. Literary Critic.____
Other reviews:
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Texas Christian University Press. 2007
Hardbound edition: ISBN 978-0-87565-355-6/ISBN 0-87565-355-3
Price: $24.50
Roger Beacham, Publisher · 12205 Mustang Chase · Austin, TX 78727
email: wholman@austin.rr.com
Or order from your local bookseller