Review: City of Hope by Kate Kerrigan

City of Hope by Kate Kerrigan continues the story of Ellie Hogan which started in the novel Ellis Island (my review). When we leave Ellie in Ellis Island, she has returned home to Ireland following the death of her father and is reunited there with her husband, John. City of Hope picks up a number of years later, still in Ireland, and Ellie has made her mark on the rural village in which she and John live. She has a number of small business and is as independent as ever. When John dies suddenly, Ellie, despite her apparent strength, can't cope. She flees Ireland and arrives back in New York City, now in the throes of the Depression.

Ellie Hogan is strong-willed and relishes her independence. Beneath that hard exterior, however, Ellie has a strong love for her husband and even curtails some of her grand ideas to align to her husband's desire for a more humble lifestyle. She is devastated when John dies suddenly of a heart attack and feels some guilt since she had been more focused on getting to town to check in on one of her businesses on the day John died than on spending time with him. In a rash act, Ellie flees Ireland following the funeral and heads to NY - she can't bear her grief in Ireland and is desperate for distraction.  There is much to distract her in NY but it is not what she expected. The NY she left was glittering with parties, fashionable clothes and beautiful homes; she returns to NY in the Depression and she is surrounded by desperation with families living on the streets.

Ellie soon finds her purpose among the needy in NY and starts refurbishing derelict homes and taking in needy families. Ellie gets to further bury her grief while staying so busy and the families gain some dignity as they work for Ellie refurbishing and running the homes. Soon she has launched small businesses including a bakery and uses the profits to further her initiative of providing homes for the needy. Despite the satisfaction Ellie gets from her good works, she is running from her grief and it is always on the verge of catching up to her.

My Thoughts
As with Ellis Island, I was drawn into City of Hope and the story the author weaved. I found myself rooting for the families that Ellie "rescued" and enjoyed watching their redemption as they contributed to helping other families in need. Although baffled by Ellie's choices at times, I couldn't help but cheer for her too and admired her strength and willingness to "just get it done".  I felt sorry for Ellie, too, both for her loss and for her inability to be honest with herself and those around her about her grief. As a reader, I knew she could not outrun her grief and dreaded the moment at which it would catch up with her.

City of Hope is a fabulous follow-up to Ellis Island and I loved the continuation of Ellie's story. It does, however, stand on it's own. If you enjoy immigrant stories, historical fiction or stories of redemption, you will love City of Hope!

You can read other reviews of the book from those on the TLC Tour.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing an ARC as part of the tour.

Weekend Cooking: Recipes for a Perfect Marriage by Morag Prunty

In Recipes for a Perfect Marriage, author Morag Prunty (who also writes as Kate Kerrigan) blends the stories of modern day Tressa Nolan living in NY and Tressa's grandmother Bernadine who lived in Achadh Mor, Ireland with treasured Irish recipes. The result is a novel that parallels the lives of the two women generations apart at they adjust to married life and celebrates the tradition of passing recipes down in families.

Tressa Nolan is a successful food writer living in New York City.  She spent summers with her grandparents in Achadh Mor, Ireland and learned how to cook and bake at her grandmother Bernadine's side.  She idolizes her grandparent's marriage and expects to find the same partnership when she finally settles down.  At 39, she impulsively gets together with Dan who is the super in her building.  They have little in common but Tressa is inexplicably drawn to Dan and accepts his marriage proposal.  And then the real work begins . . .  Tressa realizes she may not love Dan is not sure there is enough between them to make it worth persevering through the hard times.  The differences between them become magnified and Tressa questions her decision to marry Dan.

Bernadine and James's marriage seems perfect to their granddaughter Tressa but when she is given her grandmother's journal Tressa realizes all is not as it seemed while she visited them. Bernadine had her sights on another man as a young girl and was devastated when that did not work out.  She married James but never felt the passion she had felt with her first love.  James loved her but she struggled to reciprocate even though she dutifully played the role of his wife.  Similar to her granddaughter, Bernadine often resented her husband even though, like Dan, James offered Bernadine a comfortable life.

The book alternates between Bernadine and Tressa's stories as each of their marriages go through various stages. It is a good lesson in persevering  - either woman could have quit their marriage a number of times but they stuck with it (perhaps in Bernadine's case because there was no other option) and rode the ups and downs of their marriages.  There were times I was annoyed by both women - they each had these good, hardworking men who adored them and yet they were still dissatisfied and frustrated by the efforts of these men to please them. Their ungratefulness made it difficult for me to feel empathy for them. At the same time, I did enjoy the parallels in their stories and, of course, all the references to places and traditions in Ireland.

Credit: Brown Eyed Baker

One of those traditions is cooking and the author includes many Irish recipes in this book.  One of my favorite, albeit most basic, is Irish brown bread.  My grandmother in Ireland would make it and we would enjoy a slice with jam at breakfast and again at tea.  It is simple but it's appeal lies in the simplicity.  Here is the recipe:

1. 3 cups whole wheat flour
2. 1 cup all-purpose flour
3. 1 teaspoon baking soda
4. 1 teaspoon salt
5. 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
6. 1 large egg, lightly beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk both flours with the baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the buttermilk with the egg; stir into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon until a rough dough forms.
3. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth. Form the dough, put a cross in it and put it in the baking pan. Bake for about 50 minutes, until the bread has risen about 1/2 inch above the rim of the pan. Let cool to warm or room temperature, then slice and serve.     

Check out this Pinterest Board created for the book by the author.

Weekend Cooking is hosted each Saturday by Beth Fish Reads.  Participants are invited to share their food-related posts.  Check out what others have linked up this weekend!