Book Review: City of Hope by Kate Kerrigan

City of Hope by Kate Kerrigan
ARC, Paperback, 355 pages
William Morrow Paperbacks
June 25, 2013
★★★½☆☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

Source: Received from publisher for review as part of TLC Book Tours

An uplifting, inspiring and heartwarming story of a woman truly ahead of her time, City of Hope is the heart-rending but inspiring follow-up to Ellis Island

It is the 1930s and when her beloved husband, John, suddenly dies, young Ellie Hogan decides to leave Ireland and return to New York. She hopes that the city's vibrancy will distract her from her grief. But the Depression has rendered the city unrecognizable-gone is the energy and atmosphere of fun that Ellie fell in love with ten years before.

Plunging headfirst into a new life, Ellie pours all her passion and energy into running a home and refuge for the homeless. In return they give her the kind of love, support and friendship she needs to try and overcome her grief. Until, one day, someone she thought she'd never see again steps through her door. It seems that even the Atlantic isn't big enough to prevent the tragedies of the past from catching up with her.

City of Hope is the follow up to Ellis Island released in 2009. Again we see Ellie leaving Ireland behind to move to the Big City in America. Again we deal with some culture shock, but in a slightly different way that before because this time around Ellie is coming over as a wealthy woman to a Depression Era New York City. When we first begin to meet characters that we met in the first book I began to worry that it was going to be a sort of re-hash of the first book- however again I was surprised by the fact that I ended up getting a story I didn’t expect.

There is a LARGE cast of characters here – and while you may not remember who is who exactly, you get the feel of the large community that Ellie creates around her. Some characters came and went too abruptly for me to really connect with them or care about what ended up happening to them, but there were certainly those you could care about and connect with. Having such a diverse cast (diverse in SO many ways) allows there to be something for almost any reader. But Ellie is a hard character to read – I thought I knew where she was going but was disappointed with her choices toward the end of the book. I felt like everything had been leading up to this big decision and established the reader’s commitment to that decision and then she does a complete turn-around at the end – I’m not really sure she grew as a person after all of that. I don’t know that I was disappointed with her choice, per se, but more so with her wishy-washy-ness and how I felt that there was character development that didn’t really do much for me. I was actually really into Ellie’s story until about the last two chapters.

I enjoyed the new view on the Depression. Normally you see people really down on their luck, and you do see that here, but they actually try to find ways to build themselves out of it and the way they did so was interesting. The author creates a unique feel to the environment that they are living in.

The one thing I found hard to buy into was that Ellie has this endless supply of money from businesses that she built up in Ireland – but I didn’t really feel it was believable. How did what was considered a lot of money in a rural community in Ireland in pre 1930 equate to lots of wealth in New York City (even during the Depression the kinds of things she was buying would still have been expensive comparatively)?

I enjoyed the book, but wouldn’t say I loved it. I will likely read the upcoming third book because I want to know where her “big decision” ends up taking her – but I was sort of hoping it was going to resolve itself in book two.

Author Kate Kerrigan also has written Ellis Island and the third book in the series will be upcoming, Land of Dreams. Outside the series, Kerrigan has written Recipes for a Perfect Marriage. You can visit Kate Kerrigan’s website for additional information about the book. If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

My reviews of other books by this author:

• Ellis Island

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Tina’s Book Reviews
• Books in the City

You can check out the rest of the stops on the TLC Book Tour for City of Hope (I am the last stop I think).

 

Here are some choices for purchasing the book: Amazon, B&N, RJ Julia (my fav indie bookstore). 

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court

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Angel Island: The Experience and Virtual Tour

Until recently, I did not know anything about Angel Island and its role in the immigration story of the United States. After reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See I learned a lot about the experience at Angel Island and wanted to know more and to share some of it with you.

Angel Island served as the initial stopping point for immigrants who wanted to enter the US from the west. The Immigration Center was active from 1910 to 1940. The experience there was much different than that at Ellis Island in New York. Angel Island’s purpose was to determine those who were coming under legal reasons and deport those back to their country of origin who could not answer the interview questions adequately.

Upon arriving at Angel Island the immigrants would be subjected to a series of interviews where they would need to correctly answer ever increasingly obscure questions about their families and hometowns. Their answers would be compared with others who had come over with them or who had come over previously and look for discrepancies. You can watch this video I have included below which shows a recent recreation of a couple of these immigration interviews. It is quite long but you can watch a portion to get an idea of how ridiculous these interviews would have been. I don’t think I could have passed these interviews myself.

Reenactment of a series of Angel Island Interrogations

While waiting to pass the interview process the immigrants would have to stay in the dormitories – sometimes for as little as a week, or sometimes for as much as a year. These were not the most comfortable arrangements. In the video below you can take a tour of the dormitories as they would have been during the active years of Angel Island.

Virtual Tour of Angel Island Immigration Station and Museum

If you happen to be traveling to the San Francisco area or live in that area, you can visit Angel Island today. It has a great number of opportunities for hiking, biking etc as well as a little historical tour. The Immigration Station now houses a museum. The museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 11-3 and is $5 admission for adults and $3 for youths. There are 1 hour lecture tours available for an additional $7. You can learn more about the state park here.

Most people who know of Angel Island know of it as the immigration center – but it had a history both before and after that period. It served as a military center, a quarantine station, camp for prisoners during WWII, and as a state park. Here is a timeline of Angel Island history.

If you want to hear first-hand stories of the Angel Island experience you can read or listen to some of these interviews.

Or if you are looking for some reading recommendations, check out some of these:

• Barde, Robert Eric. Immigration at the Golden Gate: Passenger Ships, Exclusion, and Angel Island. Westport: Praeger, 2008.
• Fanning, Bramwell and Wong, William. Images of America: Angel Island. Arcadia Publishers, 2007.
• Lee, Erika and Judy Yung. Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Or you can get a more complete listing here.

Have any of you been here before? Do you know anyone that had to pass through Angel Island to immigrate here?

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court

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Book Review: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
Unabridged, 13 hr. 29 min.
Random House Audio
Janet Song (Narrator)
May 26, 2009
★★★★½☆

Genre: Historical fiction

Source: Downloaded audio from my local library

“In 1937, Shanghai is the Paris of Asia, a city of great wealth and glamour, the home of millionaires and beggars, gangsters and gamblers, patriots and revolutionaries, artists and warlords. Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father’s prosperous rickshaw business, twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn’t be more different: Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid. Both are beautiful, modern, and carefree . . . until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides.

As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, Pearl and May set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the Chinese countryside, in and out of the clutch of brutal soldiers, and across the Pacific to the shores of America. In Los Angeles they begin a fresh chapter, trying to find love with the strangers they have married, brushing against the seduction of Hollywood, and striving to embrace American life even as they fight against discrimination, brave Communist witch hunts, and find themselves hemmed in by Chinatown’s old ways and rules.

At its heart, Shanghai Girls is a story of sisters: Pearl and May are inseparable best friends who share hopes, dreams, and a deep connection, but like sisters everywhere they also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. They love each other, but each knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt the other the most. Along the way they face terrible sacrifices, make impossible choices, and confront a devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel hold fast to who they are–Shanghai girls.”

I have adamantly avoided novels set in Asia because I have never had that much interest in the part of the world. Not because I have any negative opinions of the people or the history of this area, but the lifestyle is outside of my typical comfort zone of the European sphere. Shanghai Girls made this transition to Asian settings painless for me because Shanghai in the 1930’s is very metropolitan, Westernized, and modernized.

This book is a family story. It is the story of two sisters (as well as various extended family members and false family members) and the things that they will go through and do for each other. I don’t have any siblings so I can’t personally connect to the sibling experience, however the author makes the sister relationship so tangible that you can connect with it. You get to see the family dynamics of new immigrants, old immigrants, and subsequently the generations born in the United States. I absolutely loved the characters that Lisa created – all of them, even the ones I didn’t like were so well written that they hang around with you for a long time after finishing the book.

My favorite aspect of this novel was the immigrant experience. I have always been fascinated with immigrant stories after hearing my own family’s immigration stories from my grandparents years ago. In this book you are exposed to the total immigrant experience from the logistics of how to get to the United States, what they endured at Angel Island (which was a substantial portion of the novel), what still hung over their heads following arrival, and what the immigrant status meant in the United States. This was the type of depth I was looking for, and thought I was going to get when reading Ellis Island by Kate Kerrigan, but didn’t get. I know that the Ellis Island and Angel Island experiences were quite different but I was looking for real stories and that is what I got with Shanghai Girls. You really got the feeling of what it might have been like to have been in their shoes. I also can truthfully say that I learn A LOT from this novel.

This book has some very heavy and dark moments and is certainly not for the light at heart but I feel that it totally captured the experience of the times. I couldn’t put this one down and will definitely be reading Dreams of Joy which is a continuation of this story.

★★★★★

This is a book that I am very glad to have selected to listen to on audio book. The narration was wonderful and added so much to the reading experience. Her voice set the tone for the book and I certainly appreciated being able to hear the pronunciations of the Chinese words. The pacing of the reading was perfect.

Author Lisa See also has written the following novels: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Dreams of Joy, On Gold Mountain, and Peony in Love. You can visit See’s website for additional information about the books. Each book has some awesome features on its page for additional exploration. If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

You can also watch this book talk with the author about Shanghai Girls where she provides some historical background and her connections with the novel.  It is quite fascinating and doesn’t give any spoilers that you don’t get out of the book blurb:

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Lara’s Book Club
• Confessions of a Book Addict

 

Copyright © 2013 by The Maiden’s Court

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The WPA and a Little Local History

In the novel Cascade by Maryanne O’Hara there is a lot of discussion about the WPA – Works Project (or Progress) Administration. Several characters in the book variously discuss trying to find jobs as artists in this relief program set up during the Great Depression. Artists were hired to create murals, depict local histories, or simply to beautify local areas. They also employed many laborers to construct various building projects. According to Wikipedia “almost every community in the United States had a new park, bridge or school constructed by the agency, which especially benefited rural and western areas”. These little tidbits brought to mind something I remember my librarian at my middle school telling me – there is a beautiful set of murals in the old middle school library (where I used to attend) that depict the life and time of the American spy during the revolution, Nathan Hale. He was a local hero in our town because he had lived in East Haddam and taught school there prior to the Revolution. I remember her mentioning that these murals were created as a part of the WPA. So now about ten years after that early discussion off I went to find out more about these murals.

The first problem was that I didn’t know the artist’s name, so it made it difficult to Google anything. Secondly, the school was closed about 3-4 years ago when a new school was built, so no one is in there currently that I could contact to get me some information. However, with a little digging, I did find a photo online with the artist’s name, W. Langdon Kihn. He is known for his works about Native Americans and many of his paintings are on display in art galleries. He also lived in my hometown for many years. Below it was something a little more interesting, FERA Project 1935. Now, the next logical question was what is FERA, because I thought this was a WPA project.

Apparently FERA, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, was a precursor to the WPA. It existed from 1933-1935. Like the WPA, they too employed unskilled workers in local and state government jobs as well as employing artists. So my librarian either had the wrong program, or more likely I remembered it incorrectly, but my local school’s murals were created because of these programs.

Below are some of the images that I have found of the murals from various sources (please be advised that none of these pictures are my own). There is currently an effort to try to save these murals because as the building stands empty with no plans in the works for its usage, these important local artworks are being exposed to a non-climate controlled environment. Apparently they are reporting it will cost more than $20,000 to take down the canvasses properly, or $8,000 to do high resolution digital photos of the works to then print on canvas to keep in the historical society. I really hope that they can save these murals because they have always had a place in my heart and are an important piece of local history. If you are interested, you can read more about the local effort to save the murals and how to donate to the cause.

Isn’t it amazing what a book can make you learn about a related topic?

Birthplace of Nathan Hale, Coventry, CT
Photo Credits: Kevin Hotary for the Reminder News

General Scenes from the Life of Nathan Hale
Photo Credits: Kevin Hotary for the Reminder News

The Nathan Hale School House – a local landmark
Photo Credits: Kevin Hotary for the Reminder News

The Capture of Nathan Hale by British Troops
Photo Credits: Kevin Hotary for the Reminder News

Nathan Hale being Led to Execution for Spying
Photo Credits: Kevin Hotary for the Reminder News

Plaque with Artist’s Name: W. Landon Kihn, FERA Project, 1935
Photo Credits: David Winakor

 

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

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Book Review: Cascade by Maryanne O’Hara

Cascade by Maryanne O’Hara
Unabridged, 11 hr. 36 min.
AudioGO
Madeline Lambert (Narrator)
August 21, 2012
★★★★☆

Genre: Historical fiction

Source: Received download from publisher as part of Solid Gold Reviewer program at Audiobook Jukebox

“During the 1930s, a conflicted new wife seeks to reconcile her heart's ambitions with binding promises she has made

1935: Desdemona Hart Spaulding was an up-and-coming Boston artist when she married in haste and settled in the small, once-fashionable theater town of Cascade to provide a home for her dying father. Now Cascade is on the short list to be flooded to provide water for Boston, and Dez's discontent is complicated by her growing attraction to a fellow artist. When tragic events unfold, Dez is forced to make difficult choices. Must she keep her promises? Is it morally possible to set herself free?”

I have to admit that the first thing to catch my attention about this book was the cover- absolutely gorgeous and refreshingly different than most historical fiction on the market today. From there, the setting called out to me – Central Massachusetts in the 1930’s-40’s. Not only is that where I live but it is one of my favorite periods in American history because of the way of life and the onset of the war. And then there is the plot device of a town (like one I grew up in) that might or might not be destroyed because a big city needs more water.

The beginning of the book moved a little slowly for me. The author uses this section well to establish the characters, particularly to get us into the mind of the main character, Dez Spaulding. It is also to establish a connection with the town of Cascade – the daily goings-on and the way of life in a small community. After reading the whole book I can safely say that although it felt slow while reading, it was necessary to make you care about what might or might not happen to Cascade.

Once you reach a little more than half-way the pacing of the novel picks up significantly as we are dealing less with character development and more with what is going to happen to Cascade and all of the events surrounding that decision. For me, the real “ah-ha!” moment was when I realized that this book was loosely based on a real event that happened in Massachusetts in the 1930s – several small towns were completely dismantled to create the Quabbin Reservoir (more on this story to come this week). I also very much appreciated the inclusion of the Works Progress Administration and the desire of several of the artist characters to be a part of it because this is another aspect that hits close to home for me (again, more to come later). Once I engrossed myself in the local history my interest in the story really grew and could not put the book down.

The only thing that bothered me while reading this book was that every now and then there would be a statement that felt out of place, usually in relation to the us being told that “four years from now I would remember…” or something to that effect. It just seemed to clash with the way the rest of the story was written and I didn’t think that it added much to the reading experience.

This is one of those books that will stay with you for a long time after reading it. The characters are well-crafted and do not feel stereotypical or cookie-cutter – they feel like living, breathing, people. The plot is fairly unpredictable – just when you think you have figured out where it is going, it goes in a different direction. There is even a surprise at the end which had me saying out-loud “NOOOO!”. I also liked the ending – despite everything that happens. Cascade is a book that will make you think a little and was another one in which I waited a little while before deciding to write the review because I needed time for it all to settle into my mind.

★★½☆☆☆

I had a few more qualms with the audiobook narration. Frankly, I didn’t really like the narrator chosen for this book. Despite the beautiful prose, the narration was what frequently made me put the book down. For at least the first ¾ of the book the narrator didn’t really have any modulation or tonality to her voice. It all felt very blah – this could have contributed to how slow the first portion of the book felt to me. Toward the end of the book either I was too sucked into the story to notice it anymore, or she changed her manner of speaking because the end was, in my opinion, better narrated than the beginning. When she would voice one of the men characters it was very poor in my opinion – I would have preferred that she hadn’t tried to make male voices and it all sound the same. Also, these voices would often frequently be spoken softer than her typical narration of the main character – I’m not sure if this was a production issue or not, but I had to frequently turn up the volume during dialogues.

This is author Maryanne O’Hara’s debut novel. You can visit her website or blog for additional information about the book. If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out this excerpt of the book?

You can also watch the book trailer below.

Reviews of this book by other bloggers:

• Reading the Past
• Beth’s Book-Nook Blog

                            

 

Copyright © 2012 by The Maiden’s Court

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Into the Dust

The Dust Bowl is not necessarily a period of American history that is covered in history classes. It is usually touched upon during a discussion about the Depression but that is usually the extent of it. I honestly don’t think we ever covered it in my classes, but this is a very important event in the discussion of the economic hard times of the Depression. I also tend to focus more on how an event affected the people more so than the political side of things.

The Dust Bowl lasted from 1930 to 1939 (depending on the area of the mid west that you lived in). The hardest hit areas were the Oklahoma panhandle, the northern part of Texas, and areas of New Mexico, Kansas, and Colorado. These areas were so hard hit because of the farming methods that had been employed since the great migration west: crops were not rotated, the natural grasses that held the soil were plowed under, and basically just wheat was grown. The soil became very, very dry and there was nothing to hold the once fertile soil in place. As large windstorms swept in, the top layers of soil would be lifted away and travel in huge clouds of dust to fall on cities and towns very far away. Soil from the area described above would sometimes fall in Chicago and even cities on the East Coast! During the winter of 1934-1935 there was red tinted snow in New England because of all of the dust particles in the atmosphere.

When these storms swept in the day would turn to night and visibility would be reduced to a few feet. I have read accounts where chickens would go to roost because they thought it was night time. The worst dust storms occurred on April 14, 1935 – called “Black Sunday”, which caused extensive damage throughout the Dust Bowl area.

Dust would permeate the homes of those living out on the farms – buildings were not as sound and no matter what they did they could not keep out the dust. Food would have dust particles in it and drinks would usually have to be chewed (eww!).

They also had to contend with crops that would not grow. As there was virtually no rain, the wheat that they were still insistent on growing would grow very weak and would frequently be killed off during one of these dust storms, or if it managed to grow, they would have a very small harvest. This left farmers very little to live on – not only to feed themselves but to sell as well. Many lost their farms, houses, farm equipment because of crop failure or decided to up and leave and see what their luck would be like further out west.

There were also the health concerns associated with these dust storms – notably dust pneumonia. The dust fills the lungs and inflames the alveoli preventing the lungs from cleaning themselves out. The results were high fever, chest pain, difficulty breathing, coughing, and almost always death. While there are no statistics as to the prevalence of dust pneumonia throughout the Dust Bowl region – the Kansas State Board of Health reported 17 deaths during 1935 in their region.

The Dust Bowl began to subside around 1937 thanks to some innovations and actions taken by the government. President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the CCC to plant over 200 million trees from the Canadian border to Texas to help break the wind and hold soil in place. They provided information to farmers about planting different types of crops and paid farmers $1 per acre if they would try one of these new methods. They also bought cattle that were unfit for human consumption at rates of $14-$20 per head. By 1938 the level of soil blowing was reduced to 65%. And in 1939 rain began to fall again throughout the Dust Bowl area thus ending this awful decade.

To hear some stories of what it was like to live through these dust storms you can watch this interview video:

You can also watch this episode of the American Experience series online about Surviving the Dust Bowl:





Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

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Book Review: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

Unabridged, 2 hr. 9 min.

Listening Library

Marika Mashburn (Narrator)

April 11, 2006

Genre: Historical Fiction, YA

Source: Downloaded audio from my local library

“When Billie Jo is just fourteen she must endure heart-wrenching ordeals that no child should have to face. The quiet strength she displays while dealing with unspeakable loss is as surprising as it is inspiring. 

Written in free verse, this award-winning story is set in the heart of the Great Depression. It chronicles Oklahoma's staggering dust storms, and the environmental--and emotional--turmoil they leave in their path. An unforgettable tribute to hope and inner strength.”

I read Out of the Dust for the first time in grade school – maybe 4th or 5th grade - and I remember being so absorbed in the book that I finished it in no time. It has been awhile since I read it and have been struggling to recall any details about the book – but I always had this lingering memory that I had really enjoyed reading it. That in and of itself says a lot – even if you don’t remember the exact details you know that a book touched your heart in some way and left an imprint there to be felt forever. I chose this book on audio this time because I wanted to see if the experience would be different – and I had unfortunately given away my copy of this book several years ago.

I had never before realized that this book was written as free verse poetry – let me rephrase that – I never realized it was written as poetry – because let’s face it, I don’t know the difference between free verse and any other type of verse of poetry. Quite honestly I shy away from poetry because of bad experiences in school and I just don’t “get it” quite like a novel. If I had known originally this was a poem I might have not picked it up purely based on that fact alone. But I couldn’t tell this was poetry. It flowed just like any other novel would have for me. And listening to it, you did not see the form it was written in which would be more of an indicator. So don’t do what I would have done and put this off because it is poetry.

I have read some reviews that say this book might be a little over the heads of its target audience – which according to the publisher is ages 9+. I have to say I disagree with those reviews. You don’t have to really know anything about the Dust Bowl to get valuable information from this book or to enjoy it – I’m sure that I didn’t know about it the first time I read this book. The book focuses on the characters but really creates the world for you. You see the world through the eyes of a 14 year old girl and she describes how hard it is to keep the dust out of the house and how you had to chew your milk. I think these are images that a young reader would be able to imagine. You really get the sense of severity and real depression of these people. Even though it is sparse and you get just the details you need and nothing more – the words chosen pack a punch. This is really an exemplary sample of keeping concise and to the point and being effective at getting your point across.

4 out of 5 stars.

The narrator chosen for this book sounds like a teenage Midwesterner which is a perfect fit for Billy Jo. The story is told through her voice in her diary so it really helps you to get into her head a little more. While I thought that the narration was wonderful, I do think that it might be a better choice to read this book in its printed version. As the book is written as her diary, you lose a little bit of the sense of time and connection to her diary. A diary isn’t usually read out loud so a little bit is lost in the art this time.

4 out of 5 stars for the audio.

If you would like to preview the story before reading it, why not try out listening to this excerpt of the book?

Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

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Dust Bowl Books

The Dust Bowl of the 1930's was a terrible economic and natural disaster in the United States.  Crops were destroyed, people died, families migrated west.  This period in history has always intrigued me - to learn more about the lives of the people who had to suffer through this.  I haven't been able to find too many books about this period but I thought I would share a few with you here.  I have a review of Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse coming up later this week.

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (YA)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Dust to Eat by Michael Cooper (YA)
The Journal of C.J. Jackson: A Dust Bowl Migrant – My Name is America Series (YA)
Survival in the Storm: The Dust Bowl Diary of Grace Edwards – Dear America Series (YA)
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

Courtesy of Chelsea

American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California by James Gregory

If you have read any others and can offer recommendations or know of any others, please feel free to list them in the comments.  Thanks!



Copyright © 2011 by The Maiden’s Court

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