The Orphans' Nine Commandments

Holman, William R.

ISBN 10: 0875653553 / ISBN 13: 9780875653556

Published by Texas Christian University Press, Fort Worth, Texas, 2007

About this Item

Hardcover, xi, 234 pp., b/w photos, unclipped illustrated jacket. Foreward by Ted Blevins. Light wear, unmarked, tight binding, nice jacket. With all the color of the 1930s, this is the story of survival within an impersonal child-care system.

Seller Inventory # 024677

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Orphans' Nine Commandments
• Publisher: Texas Christian University Press, Fort Worth, Texas
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0875653553
• ISBN 13: 9780875653556
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • History/Biography

About this title

Synopsis

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 and 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.

About the Author

William Holman served as head librarian, Pan American University; Director of the Rosenberg Library in Galveston; Head of the San Antonio Public Library, Director of the San Francisco Library, and Professor, the Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas. He is a mentor for the Orphan Foundation of America and has represented the group on national television.

Mr. Holman and his wife, Barbara, publish under the imprint, “Roger Beacham, Publisher” and have produced such books as Harold Billings’ Texas Beast Fables and This Bitterly Beautiful Land: A Texas Commonplace Book, considered by many the most beautiful book ever published in Texas. His avocations are golf, book collecting, and racing sailboats. The Holmans live in Austin.