Kate Kerrigan

Most immigration stories discuss the reasons one leaves a homeland for a foreign country, the hardships endured along the way and eventually some form of resolution of life in the new country. Everything about Ellis Island breaks the mold of immigration novels and forges its own path. Ultimately, the story is much richer for it.

The first half of the novel follows the traditional story-telling format. Girl meets boy, girl marries boy. The happily-ever-after, however, does not come, as both show more John and Ellie are swept up in the Irish revolution. Hardship follows, as one knows it must. Interestingly, Ellie's move to New York from Ireland is never meant to be permanent, and this is where the traditional story shifts into something unique. For, she is going to earn money for her husband, rather than being the one left behind waiting to be send for later. She is the one to blaze the pioneer trail for her family, leaving all that is familiar for the unknown all because of the love she holds for John and the belief she has in their marriage. Her growing self-awareness and strength are predictable, as she lands in New York harbor during the roaring Twenties - that golden era when women were grabbing new freedoms and rights, when the spirit was one of adventure, and everyone just wanted to have fun. Ellie truly does come into her own in New York, blossoming and embracing the new culture as any modern woman is wont to do.

What gives Ellis Island its power is the continuing fidelity and love Ellie has towards her husband, even after years of separation. When forced to make a decision between her new-found freedoms and luxuries and her husband, Ellie's decision is as surprising as it is rare. Love and sticking by that love for richer and for poorer tends to be the vows spoken but not necessarily reality. One reads about all of the immigrants who came to America for a better life but very rarely do we get a glimpse of those who opted to go back across the ocean. How does the hustle and bustle of the United States, especially during the 1920s change a person? Can one ever truly go back?

Ireland and New York in the 1920s are revealed in great detail, making the contrasts between the two worlds more transparent. The reader can feel the tension as ancient antagonisms against the British rule sparks the revolution and call for home rule. S/he can sense the pulse of energy that radiates from New York City, the clicking and clacking of heels on the sidewalks, the noise of the crowd. Ms. Kerrigan presents the attitudes, opinions, customs, and other minutiae of the day with no fuss or embellishments. Ellis Island truly is a glimpse back into the past towards a long-ago decade where everything was ripe with possibilities.

My only fault with the novel is its title. Ellis Island is so misleading. Only two brief scenes actually take place on Ellis Island, as this is not a novel about an immigrant but about a woman and her journey who just happens to go through Ellis Island on one of her stops along the way. Other than that, Ellis Island is an engaging glimpse of the past. Ellie is a character who quickly generates sympathy with the reader, and her journey of self-discovery is as pleasurable as it is fascinating from a historical perspective. An Irish village and New York City in the 1920s really were two different worlds, and her ability to maneuver through the two makes for a great story and excellent history lesson.

Thank you to Mary Sasso from Harper Perennial for my review copy! show less

It’s 1942 and twice-widowed Ellie Hogan’s teenaged son Leo has run away from boarding school. It doesn’t take much sleuthing to find out that he’s taken the train across country from New York to Los Angeles: to Hollywood. He’s determined that he will be a star. Ellie immediately jumps on a train and follows him, to discover him living with another young man, Freddie, who is trying to become the world’s first actor’s agent, and Freddie’s girlfriend, Crystal, who fancies show more herself a starlet. They are holed up at the Chateau Marmont, with little money and no jobs. Ellie allows herself to be convinced that Leo has a real chance at getting a part in an upcoming film, so she takes a room for herself and Leo and figures it’ll only be a few days before this nonsense is out of the way and they can head home. To her surprise, Leo gets a part and is put into acting classes at the studio. Stuck in California for the time being, Ellie rents a house and sends for her younger son, Tom, and her aging friend and housekeeper, Bridie, and settles in for a few months while the film is being shot. She ends up taking in Freddie and Crystal, mothering them just like she does her sons, even though this means they have taken over the room she’d designated as her artist’s studio. For Ellie, being a mother is the most important thing in her life- she admits that she married her second husband in large part so she could be a mother to his son Leo. She is willing to put her own life- both professional and personal- on hold for her sons, feeling that she doesn’t have enough time or love to go around. Whether this means quashing a relationship that seems to have a lot of potential or giving up her painting, she’s fine with it.

Ellie acts like a very entitled woman. She barges in everywhere and expects everyone to listen to her, whether it be a studio executive or the military head of a relocation camp where a Japanese friend of hers is interned. She comes by this trait not from being born into money; she worked her way up from nothing during the Depression. She just feels she has to do her best to try and help her friends and family- even when she doesn’t have all the information and they desperately do not want her to intervene.

The book jacket makes the story sound exciting: it mentions glamour and glitz and having to protect her family from the threat of the war. In reality, Ellie encounters the glitz only occasionally, and the war is little threat to her family, although her own actions make things difficult for both her Polish born boyfriend and her Japanese friend. The story really doesn’t have much action in it. Told by Ellie in the year 1950, a lot of it is backstory (this book is the third in a trilogy) and her emotions and thoughts. I found I could not get really interested in the book; I couldn’t make a connection with Ellie or any of the other characters. They were flat and not fleshed out. Bridie as the Irish housekeeper was very nearly a stereotype. I found myself impatient with the book, wanting to get it read and have it over with so I could go on to something more interesting There is also a (small) problem with some anachronistic language – ‘networking’ and ‘lifestyle’ weren’t used in 1950 that I know of- but that may have been fixed in the final edit. show less

The only child of a devout Catholic father who nonetheless failed the priesthood and a mother so terribly wounded by a community that still judges her for her family's past sins that the family hardly mixes with their neighbors, young Ellie Flaherty's childhood is a drab and loveless affair. It's no wonder, then, that when Ellie's mother lets her out, as an act of charity, to play with John Hogan whose parents have both passed away from TB, that she quickly falls in love with his easy smile show more and his awe at the nature that surrounds their village in Ireland. The pair are best friends through their school days, but when John leaves for Dublin to apprentice with a carpenter, Ellie wonders if she's lost him for good, but she need not worry, for when they meet again their love is stronger than ever, and soon the pair are married.

Married life isn't easy in their rural Irish home during the Irish rebellion, and John, a soldier for the Irish Republican Army, is severely wounded. The only way John will walk again is with an expensive operation, and Ellie knows the only way to afford it will be for her to join a friend working as a lady's maid in America. Soon enough, Ellie is being seduced by the promise, independence, and society of life as a young woman in New York City during the Roaring 20s. Will Ellie be able to return to a life of poverty in Ireland with her one true love, or will the siren call of the city of dreams lure her into a new life altogether?

Ellis Island is Ellie's story, and hers alone. Though the pages of Ellis Island are full of characters, her Irish family, her husband John, her rich employer Isobel Adams, and her friends from her typing job, not to mention the charming Charles Irvington who would woo her given the chance, Ellie's character is the only one that truly jumps off the page. The rest, while fleshed out enough, merely give structure to Ellie's journey, not just from Ireland to America, but from thoughtless, selfish childhood to accepting, understanding adulthood. Kerrigan's Ireland and 1920s New York City are almost like characters themselves, and Kerrigan draws out the wonder and the fast pace of a city on the rise just as well as she pictures for us the quaint, if sometimes desperately poor, Irish countryside. The contrasts between Ellie's two lives are sharp, but Kerrigan ultimately manages to show the great value in both of them.

Ellis Island is littered with the sort of coincidences that might make the story seem contrived but for the impression that Ellie's story is so human and turns out the way so many human stories do. Ellie's story reveals a life peppered with joys and haunted by regrets and thoughts of what might have been. Ellie's coming of age mirrors so many in that we come to understand the lives around us, and we don't just "settle" but learn to love even the small joys that our lives have to offer us. Ellis Island was a little lighter fare than perhaps I was expecting but is ultimately an enjoyable historical love story that brings the 1920s to life and gives us a memorable character finding herself during a captivating time in history. show less

Short and Sweet Summary

Ellie leaves her Irish homeland and returns to New York after her husband John unexpectedly dies. She finds that the New York of her past, the New York that almost took her away from John once before, is not the same and she must find a way to re-invent herself in order to truly figure out exactly who she is and her purpose in life without John.

What I Liked

The interesting and ironic complexities of life in Ireland and the United States before and after the Irish Civil show more War as well as The Great Depression. Irish families who left their home country for America, fearing for their family's lives, found themselves thrown back into poverty after experiencing prosperity for a while. Ellie travels back and forth during these times, and I couldn't help but get caught up in the politics.

the fight of the common man trying to keep his head above water in the United States with Roosevelt's New Deal politics, the formation of unions, and a mob run city...and especially the intermingling of all.

Bridie - what a character...on the surface a grumpy old woman...but deep down the best of the bunch. Loyal, honest, outspoken, talented and practical. She reminded me of the Mrs. Pattmore character in Downton Abbey. My favorite Bridie episode is when they meet Frank Delaney when he comes looking for the mobster Dingus...who knew Bridie had that much guts?? LOVED it!

Matt - the good guy. That's all I can say.

What I Didn't Like

Ellie - I had a hard time getting on board with Ellie at first. I couldn't help but think of her as selfish...her husband had already waited on her for 3 years while she ran away, the first year to earn money for him but after that? Then, she came home and was still not satisfied. It just felt as if all Ellie thought about was herself...nevermind that her actions and her life affected others as well. She leaves Ireland before her husband is in the ground, checks into the Plaza and goes shopping on Fifth Avenue, looking down her nose at families suffering from The Great Depression. It took about 100 pages to realize she might be a worthy character after all.

Sheila - I never understand how Sheila and Ellie were friends. Of course, I'm glad they were after all things transpired but still. I wanted to slap Sheila on more than one occasion.

Charles - it will be interesting to see what role Charles plays, if any, in Ellis Island.

Overall Recommendation

If you're in the least bit interested in this time period and the overlap of Irish history with that of America, you'll like this book. Give Ellie a chance though...it really did take me a while to warm up to her. By the end, my chest hurt and I thought I was going to cry. We don't always get what we think we're supposed to have. Sometimes life gets in the way. That's what kind of story this is. show less