My Book Report.

posted by Chuck Ayers
Book Report

Before we get started on this book report, I would strongly suggest you obtain the audiobook as read by voice actor Kathryn Markey. She does a most credible job of replicating an Italian accent, Irish accent, French accent, a British accent, and of course, an American accent. Let me further explained and once again I am writing these reports because I failed to turn in my book reports in junior high. So, I am making up for my past failures. But anyway, this book is historical fiction about Ellis Island in 1902 and from the perspectives of a new hire matron; a woman charged with assisting the immigration service’s inspectors and processing of newly arrived immigrants from Russia, Italy, France, the UK, and other European and Asian countries. Coming by the boat loads. An on the other side of the coin, a young Italian immigrant woman arriving and How the two individuals happened to cross paths
Title: The Next Ship Home, A novel of Ellis Island by Heather Webb, historical fiction published Feb 2022.
Library of Congress annotation:

“Ellis Island, 1902: Two women band together to hold America to its promise: “Give me your tired, your poor … your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” A young Italian woman arrives on the shores of America, her sights set on a better life. That same day, a young American woman reports to her first day of work at the immigration center. But Ellis Island isn’t a refuge for Francesca or Alma, not when ships depart every day with those who are refused entry to the country and when corruption ripples through every corridor. While Francesca resorts to desperate measures to ensure she will make it off the island, Alma fights for her dreams of becoming a translator, even as women are denied the chance. As the two women face the misdeeds of a system known to manipulate and abuse immigrants searching for new hope in America, they form an unlikely friendship?and share a terrible secret?altering their fates and the lives of the immigrants who come after them. This is a novel of the dark secrets of Ellis Island, when entry to “the land of the free” promised a better life but often delivered something drastically different, and when immigrant strength and female friendship found ways to triumph even on the darkest days.” Read this book. You will like it. And for those who might care some romance weaves in and around the narrative. I just hope my English teachers Mr. Burgess, Mrs. Cox, and Mr. Ryan likes my report.