Title: Ellis Island
Author: Kate Kerrigan
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks; Reprint edition
Publication Date: June 28, 2011
Paperback: 368 pages
ISBN: 978-0062071538
Genre: Fiction

From the Publisher:

Sweethearts since childhood, Ellie Hogan and her husband, John, are content on their farm in Ireland—until John, a soldier for the Irish Republican Army, receives an injury that leaves him unable to work. Forced to take drastic measures in order to survive, Ellie does what so many Irish women in the 1920s have done and sails across a vast ocean to New York City to work as a maid for a wealthy socialite.

Once there, Ellie is introduced to a world of opulence and sophistication, tempted by the allure of grand parties and fine clothes, money and mansions . . . and by the attentions of a charming suitor who can give her everything. Yet her heart remains with her husband back home. And now she faces the most difficult choice she will ever have to make: a new life in a new country full of hope and promise, or return to a life of cruel poverty . . . and love.

My Review:

Ellis Island by Kate Kerrigan is a very touching story of Ellie Hogan who must leave her husband, John, at home in Ireland so that she may spend time working in New York to earn enough money to afford surgery for John’s war injuries. Set in the 1920s, Kerrigan captures the importance of relationships and their role in life decisions, particularly in a time when the United States offered a new life for immigrants, a life with promises of wealth and success. Through well-crafted descriptive prose, readers see how Ellie’s and John’s relationship grew out of a childhood friendship and Kerrigan strikes an interesting chord with the interplay of relationships from Ellie’s and John’s, to John’s relationship with his parents and with Ellie’s, to Ellie’s new friendship with Isobel, Ellie’s employer in New York. Readers will find some romance and suspense in Ellis Island as the story is ultimately about choices, particularly the choices Ellie must make amidst questions about the future of her marriage to John. There are plenty of contrasts in this superbly-written story, including the relatively impoverished lifestyle Ellie had in Ireland set against the allure of potential prosperity in the United States, the relationship challenges Ellie leaves behind and the exciting new relationships that develop on the other side of the Atlantic. I would recommend Ellis Island to all readers especially to book discussion groups as Kerrigan provides numerous issues from which to launch an engaging dialogue.

About the Author:

Kate Kerrigan is the author of two previous novels in the United Kingdom. She lives in Ireland with her husband and their two sons.

For more information about Kate Kerrigan please visit her website.

For more reviews of the book, please follow the TLC book tour.

I received a copy of Ellis Island by Kate Kerrigan from TLC Book Tours to be a part of this tour and offer my honest review of the book. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned book.