Thanks to our snow day yesterday, I finished another novel. It wasn't a long read so it was easy to finish in one week.
This is an excellent book if you like historical fiction with romance. I usually don't like the romance part (usually too sappy for me) but this was very realistic....so...i guess realistic fiction could be the other genre to describe this book. At any rate, it was very good!
Setting: Ireland and New York City in the 1920's.
Story Summary: Centers around the main characters of John and Ellie. Ellie and John are best friends growing up in the same small, impoverished, rural town in Ireland. Ellie's parents are somber, strict, and not much fun. Her parents send her to a convent school when she becomes a teen and she and John rarely see each other until one summer as older teens when they fall in love. They become engaged, get married and then he goes off to join the IRA. Meanwhile, she stays at their little cottage helping John's foster parents and making their little house a home. John becomes injured in a battle and they quickly lose what little money they've saved. They don't have enough for his surgery so Ellie, against her parents wishes and John's, sails for America where her school friend has settled and can get her a job as a maid for a rich lady.
Ellie moves from being a servant to taking some typing classes at a NYC college and quickly gets a better job for a university professor. Her friend Sheila, from her school days, becomes engaged to a wealthy man who works in a profitable family business and gives both girls jobs in the company. Ellie continues to send money home to John and he has his operation. Meanwhile, Ellie meets a rich, single man who falls in love with her. She thinks of him as just a friend but when he asks her to marry him, she begins to doubt her life back in Ireland for this better life of material possessions in NYC. Her boss says he will offer John a job here in America and gives her a ticket to send to him. However, John refuses to move to America..he will not leave Ireland, his homeland. Ellie is angry and sad. Another year passes. What started out as a promise to return in one year, has now progressed to 3 years in NYC. And she has loved every minute.
One day she gets a telegram stating that she must come back to Ireland as her father is ill and perhaps dying. She gets on a ship with all of her belongings, planning on bringing John back with her once things are settled at home. When she arrives back in her homeland, she learns that her father has already died. And that John expects her to stay.
Will Ellie stay with her husband or return to the land of plenty and a rich man who loves her as a working, fashionable independent woman??
My Thoughts
This is a good book. It shows how immigrants to our nation had to deal with all kinds of new things.
It speaks about friendship, love, and the legacy of families.
I highly recommend this book for ages 14 and older.
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10!
There IS romance in this book but it is definitely NOT sappy!! YAY!!
Ellie moves from being a servant to taking some typing classes at a NYC college and quickly gets a better job for a university professor. Her friend Sheila, from her school days, becomes engaged to a wealthy man who works in a profitable family business and gives both girls jobs in the company. Ellie continues to send money home to John and he has his operation. Meanwhile, Ellie meets a rich, single man who falls in love with her. She thinks of him as just a friend but when he asks her to marry him, she begins to doubt her life back in Ireland for this better life of material possessions in NYC. Her boss says he will offer John a job here in America and gives her a ticket to send to him. However, John refuses to move to America..he will not leave Ireland, his homeland. Ellie is angry and sad. Another year passes. What started out as a promise to return in one year, has now progressed to 3 years in NYC. And she has loved every minute.
One day she gets a telegram stating that she must come back to Ireland as her father is ill and perhaps dying. She gets on a ship with all of her belongings, planning on bringing John back with her once things are settled at home. When she arrives back in her homeland, she learns that her father has already died. And that John expects her to stay.
Will Ellie stay with her husband or return to the land of plenty and a rich man who loves her as a working, fashionable independent woman??
My Thoughts
This is a good book. It shows how immigrants to our nation had to deal with all kinds of new things.
It speaks about friendship, love, and the legacy of families.
I highly recommend this book for ages 14 and older.
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10!
There IS romance in this book but it is definitely NOT sappy!! YAY!!
3 comments:
I've seen this book around on different sites. Another one for my to be read list.
Btw, I had to smile at the cover of the book you are reading right now.
Well, now you have me wanting to read the book to find out whether she chose to stay in Ireland or not!
By the way, I hate sappy romances, too.
Thanks for sharing this review! I'm not into romance novels either, but this sounds like one I'd like to read, especially since I have great grandparents that came through Ellis Island from Ireland.
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