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    City of Hope: A Novel
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    City of Hope: A Novel
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    City of Hope: A Novel
    Ebook379 pages6 hours

    City of Hope: A Novel

    By Kate Kerrigan

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The heartrending and inspiring sequel to Ellis Island, Kate Kerrigan's City of Hope is an uplifting story of a woman truly ahead of her time

    When her beloved husband suddenly dies, young Ellie Hogan decides to leave Ireland and return to New York, where she worked in the 1920s. She hopes that the city will distract her from her anguish. But the Great Depression has rendered the city unrecognizable. Gone are the magic and ambiance that once captured Ellie's imagination.

    Plunging headfirst into a new life, Ellie pours her passion and energy into running a refuge for the homeless. Her calling provides the love, support, and friendship she needs in order to overcome her grief—until, one day, someone Ellie never thought she'd see again steps through her door. It seems that even the vast Atlantic Ocean isn't enough to keep the tragedies of the past from catching up with her.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJun 25, 2013
    ISBN9780062237293
    Unavailable
    City of Hope: A Novel
    Author

    Kate Kerrigan

    Kate Kerrigan was born in Scotland to Irish parents and reared in London. She began her career in Journalism at the age of nineteen rising to become editor of various publications before moving to Ireland in 1990 to become a full-time author. Living in the picturesque village of Killala on the west coast of Ireland, she has two sons Leo and Tom with husband Niall. Her novels include Recipes for a Perfect Marriage which was shortlisted for the 2006 Romantic Novel of the Year Award and Miracle of Grace. Ellis Island was a TV Book Club Summer Read and the story of Ellie Hogan was continued in City of Hope published in 2012. Land of Dreams, the final part in this compelling trilogy, publishes in 2013. www.katekerrigan.ie http://katekerriganauthor.blogspot.com/

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    Reviews for City of Hope

    4/5

    25 ratings8 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Picked this book up at a book fair and didn't realise it was the second book of a trilogy until I was three-quarters of the way into the book. As a stand alone book I really enjoyed this and openly cried at the beginning and the end. ;)
    • 3/5
      I won the ARC in exchange for an honest review.Let me first state that I did not read Ellis Island so I had no history of Ellie prior to meeting her in this 2nd installment of a trilogy. The story is written in a straightforward prose with lots of historical background and many believable characters.Kate Kerrigan's second novel revolves around Ellie's life back in the U.S. after the death of her husband. She has run away from her grief and hopes to lose herself in the glittery, fast-paced, life of New York City. Unfortunately, the depression has also come to New York. Ellie is, as the back cover says, "a woman ahead of her time". She is smart, intelligent, and a shrewd business woman. Rather unheard of in late 1930's America. It's her capacity to find solutions to problems that gets Ellie back on her feet.I didn't like her character very much. I found Ellie to be self-centered, demeaning and intolerant, especially towards men, even her husband. While in Ireland she seemed to value her work and businesses over her husband using the pretense of giving them a better life to justify her actions. She runs away because she can't deal with her grief and gives the impression that John was at fault for dying....how dare he!So if Miss Kerrigan wanted to create a protagonist that left you wanting for more than what you got, she did an admirable job! I can't say I didn't like the story as much as I didn't like the main character.
    • 3/5
      Sequel to ELLIS ISLAND. Ellie's fairy tale life from poor Irish subsistence farming to highly successful business woman seems a little unlikely. Her return to America and her successful plan to help the poor during the Great Depression is upbeat, and you know there's going to be another book in the series when she turns her back on this and heads into another chapter of her life.
    • 4/5
      I jumped on a chance to read this book due to loving the first -Ellis Island- last year. To my pleasant surprise I loved this one just as much, if not a little more, a rarity when it comes to sequels. While Kerrigan gives the reader a backdrop from the previous novel, many can read City of Hope as a stand alone and not feel left out from the story. I think what most impresses me about these books are the interesting look at the depression and Ireland immigrants during the 1930's and 40's.The story is really about self worth and overcoming tragedy, when Kerrigan takes Ellie on her own back to America after losing her husband she was able to bring out some of Ellie's hidden gifts in her smarts for business, her desires and a sense of maturity. Her new found focus to help others actually helps Ellie's character realize the potential she has in America, but more so the potential she has in herself. Not to say she's perfect because some of her choices when faced with the past, rub against this new found maturity, but nonetheless she has many redeeming qualities and character growth throughout.I would highly recommend this to lovers of historical fiction or readers who enjoy fiction for women in strong, independent roles.
    • 4/5
      Short and Sweet SummaryEllie 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 LikedThe interesting and ironic complexities of life in Ireland and the United States before and after the Irish Civil 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 LikeEllie - 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 RecommendationIf 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.
    • 5/5
      This is a touching, memorable book. The heroine, Ellie, is ambitious, determined, and fearless. Although Ellie has her flaws, and readers will question Ellie's lapse in judgment and selfish behavior, this is is a great work of historical fiction. The story begins in Ireland, and when Ellie's husband, John, dies suddenly, she runs to New York. When she arrives, she discovers that New York is in the throes of the depression. A chance meeting with a homeless family in Central Park motivates Ellie to do something to help them. Thus the beginning of the home renovation business. Kerrigan has done a great job portraying the life of New Yorkers, and in particular the struggles during the depression. I have not read the first book, but plan on doing so in the near future. This is one for every book club.
    • 5/5
      A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Kate Kerrigan, the charming Irish author of Ellis Island, a novel about a young Irish woman who came to America to earn money to pay for an operation her husband back in Ireland desperately needed after an injury.Set in the 1920s, Ellie comes to New York to work first as a maid, and then learns how to be a secretary. She falls in love with a wealthy businessman and when it comes time to go home to Ireland, she is torn.City of Hope opens in the 1930s back in Ireland, on the farm where Ellie lives with her husband John. John loves his life as a farmer, but Ellie wants more. She opened a shop near the farm to sell grocery items and products grown on the farm. She started a secretarial school and a beauty salon. Ellie was quite the businesswoman and always looking for ways to expand, much to John's consternation.When John dies unexpectedly, Ellie is devastated. She runs away, back to New York, to try and pick up the pieces of her life. A chance meeting with a mother and her children, homeless and living in Central Park, convinced her to try and do something to help them.She buys a home that has been foreclosed on and moves this family in, along with Bridie, an older woman who worked with her as a maid many years ago. They work to rebuild the house, and find that there are many men with construction skills looking for work in the Great Depression.Ellie finds a new mission for her life- refurbishing homes and giving people a chance to rebuild their lives. She hopes that all of this will keep her from missing John. She meets many new people, and puts her talents to good use. She starts a cooperative, where the women open a cafe and store, selling their prepared food to the wealthy women in the neighborhood.Then people comes back into her life unexpectedly: her old friend Sheila and a man from her past. Ellie must face up to her past and decide what path she is going to take.I have to admit that at times I did not understand Ellie's actions. She seems to run away from her problems rather than face them. After John's death, she runs to New York and hides out, leaving John's mother all alone. At the end of the novel she makes a decision that I find baffling. Although I would make different decisions, Kerrigan skillfully creates such an intriguing character that I found myself rooting for her even as I found her maddening.I love books that take me into a completely new world, and City of Hope does just that. I did not realize that there were Hooverville tent cities in Central Park during the Depression. Kerrigan clearly did a great deal of research to bring this interesting period of time in New York City to such vivid life.The characters are so well drawn, and I found that if I closed my eyes, I could picture the street in Upper Manhattan where Ellie created new lives for so many people. The problems that Ellie's friends faced during the Great Depression resonated with the problems that face many people today- the loss of jobs and their homes, forcing their families out into the streets. I liked the parallel there.My favorite line in the book is one from Ellie during John's funeral."I shut down. I did not have the room to absorb all their grief, when I could not accommodate my own."That just hit such a visceral note for me.If you have read Ellis Island, City of Hope is a must read. Even if you haven't read Ellis Island, City of Hope stands on its own, a novel about grief and new beginnings, and a wonderful piece of historical fiction set during the Great Depression in New York City. (And if you are a fan of Downton Abbey, Bridie reminds me so much of Mrs. Patmore!)
    • 2/5
      I remember LOVING this heroine in the first book. In this book, she's really selfish and unlikable. It just didn't happen for me. I didn't get the impression she really loved John and instead rather resented him for holding her back from a more glamorous life. Remembering the ending of book one, I can't say I'm surprised, but to just leave your husband's funeral to go across the ocean to Saks Fifth Avenue and party????NO.However, I do appreciate the way subtle reminder to never part in anger. You really never know when a loved will drop dead. Be sure to spend time with them and let them know--through both actions and words--you love them.**I was supposed to receive a copy of this via LibraryThing Early Reviewers program, but I did not. Instead, I nabbed this via Edelweiss. I post this because I'm going to mark it received anyway. I don't wish for a hard copy, thank you.**