gift for kid

I was recently blissfully lost in a book.  Do you know that feeling?  When a book captures you and takes you along and you are so involved that when it ends you are more than a little sad?  Oh, how I love a book that wins me over in this way!  Ellis Island by Kate Kerrigan had me so thoroughly engrossed that I neglected everything but my children the whole time I was reading it.  Housework, website and favorite television programs?  No thanks...I must get back to my book!  Here is the scoop on why I was MIA from dishes and laundry last week...

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. 

This book was SO interesting.  I am a fan of historical fiction so this was right up my alley but it was really the character of Ellie who had me flipping the pages long after I should have been in bed (Baby R STILL wakes up before 5 am each day!).  Kate Kerrigan did a superb job of bringing Ellie to life and making her likable without making her "too good to be true".  I loved the love story of Ellie and John and I appreciated the realness of it.  I was kept guessing about Ellie right up until the end of the book (I don't want to give too much away!).  I was really sad to see the book end...it was that wonderful.  I actually have visions of it being made into a movie but I fear there is no way film could do this outstanding book justice.  Please, please read this book...you will not regret it.  Pick it up today on Amazon...


Harper Perennial is giving one lucky RBM reader a copy of this must read!  Here is how to enter...

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