Cherrywood (2024) by Australian writer Jock Serong includes an orphan at the heart of the story.

In Edinburgh, 1916 a wealthy Scottish industrialist, Thomas Wrenfether, decides to build a paddlesteamer out of European cherrywood – not in Europe, though, but in Melbourne.

The novel is in two time frames, beginning near the turn of the 20th century, when Thomas Wrenfether becomes the richest child in all of Scotland. He's only 10 when both his parents die in a car crash, so he lives with his Edinburgh cousins until he comes of age, inherits the wealth, marries the lovely Lucy, and in 1912 they have a sweet child called Annabelle.

From the publisher:

“From multi-award-winning author Jock Serong comes Cherrywood, an imaginative, darkly playful and deeply meaningful delight, a novel about legacy, community, wonder, love and reinvention.”