The Next Ship Home, A Novel of Ellis Island ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Next Ship Home, A Novel of Ellis Island by Heather Webb 

Thought provoking cover 

G👀dreads

Ellis Island, 1902. Francesca arrives on the shores of America, her sights set on a better life than the one she left in Italy. That same day, aspiring linguist Alma reports to her first day of work at the immigrant processing center. Ellis, though, is not the refuge it first appears thanks to President Roosevelt's attempts to deter crime. Francesca and Alma will have to rely on each other to escape its corruption and claim the American dreams they were promised.

Genre: Historical Fiction 

Day 1 - I started The Next Ship Home. It captured my attention right off the bat. I'm at the 23% mark and find it very interesting. It takes place in 1902 which I'm thinking was about the time my Grandfather (on my Father's side) processed through Ellis Island so it makes me wonder if what the author is describing is what he went through with his Mom. In the book, their biggest fear was not being let in and having to be deported on the-next-ship-home. If they didn't have a sponsor, their next fear was how they would get work to support themselves so they wouldn't be deported.

Day 2 - I wanted to stay up and finish it but I still had two hours left to listen so I'll finish it tomorrow.

Day 3 - I finished it has knocked my other favorites down a peg. It's the best book I've read all year. I would give it more than five stars if that was a thing. The narration was great too.
These two young ladies will stay with me long after the last page was turned.

Fact - The immigration inspectors main focus was on health (trying not to let disease into the country), legal status (trying to keep criminals out of the country), financial, having enough money or trade experience to avoid becoming a public charge (not to be a financial burden on the country).

Isn't that interesting? When people say "our country was built on immigrants" that is 100% true, however the intake processes is most definitely not the same 120+ years later. Back then the majority of people were coming to America, the Promised Land, for a better life. Not to smuggle drugs and gangs and weapons. They did a fairly good job of sending those as identified back on the.next.ship.home.
People are not just entering the country now to pick produce as some people imply in this countries current immigration situation. Stereotyping much?
The Italian girl in this story is escaping poverty and a very abusive father.

They closed Ellis Island as an immigration station in 1954. It is currently a historical landmark and museum.

//end history lesson!

I finished this prior to creating my review format so I'm going to back track because this one was so good.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Overall Enjoyment 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

Did it grab and keep my attention? 🎣🎣🎣🎣🎣

Would I recommend it to anyone? Yes ➕

Would I want a sequel 🕮 Yes ➕ I would love a sequel of these two young ladies as they were just entering adulthood. I think they were 21 when it ended.

Would I want to read more books by this author 📚  Yes ➕

Trigger Warnings 💣💥 Prejudice, Sexism, Corruption, Coerced Sex 

Spice 🌶 No spice but a little romance

Plot twist 🌪 No

Tidbits - already discussed above

🎧Kathryn Markey

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