Books For The Road - Annie's Stories by Cindy Thomson

The early 1900s saw an influx of immigrants through Ellis Island and many settled in New York City. Sometime around that era, my own grandparents came through Ellis Island but they settled farther west in Ohio and they weren't from Ireland like the women found in Cindy Thomson's Ellis Island series. Annie's Stories is the second in the series and is quite a tale of a young woman's struggle to overcome her past in Ireland and make a new life in America.

Thomson paints her story with well-researched historical aspects that add flavor to the story line which centers on Annie who was rescued from a girl's reformatory in Ireland where she was unfairly confined and mistreated when her father died. and Stephen, a postman, who has also lost his family and struggles with his father's suicide. Annie's father was an Irish storyteller who had left to his daughter some written stories which she will learn were part of a secret side to her father. There is a bit of a mystery as well as romance and all beautifully set in NYC at the turn of the century.

While Grace's Pictures is the first in the series, there is no problem in reading Annie's Stories as a separate book. I've read most of Thomson's books and this is definitely the best, although I did enjoy her baseball book, Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story. 

Annie's Stories is a smooth read. A great book for the road.

Books For The Road - Grace's Pictures

Grace's Pictures by Cindy Thomson is the story of an Irish immigrant who arrives in New York and struggles to find her way as she seeks a job and way to earn money to be able to bring her mother to America as well. It is rich with the history of the times not the least of which is the introduction of the Brownie camera by Kodak which gets Grace into all sorts of trouble as she photographs some people she shouldn't have.

Thomson gives a great picture of New York during the early 1900s, the immigrants, the police scandals, the organizations that reached out to those seeking a new life,
the newsboys on the corners. It truly is a wonderful step back in time.

I was privileged to read a rough draft in the early stages of the novel and love the way that the author developed her characters further as well as adding a richness to the plot. It was a good read then and it is even a better read now.

Take a trip back in time and tuck this gem into your suitcase or a spot on your ereader as you hit the road or the beach or wherever your summer plans take you.