Grace's Pictures (Ellis Island Book 1)

Review Thomson (Brigid of Ireland) has penned a delightful story of overcoming obstacles. Lynn N. Austin fans will savor this historical series debut. ~LIBRARY JOURNAL Grace McCaffery hopes that the bustling streets of New York hold all the promise that the lush hills of Ireland did not. As her efforts to earn enough money to bring her mother to America fail, she wonders if her new Brownie camera could be the answer. But a casual stroll through a beautiful New York City park turns into a hostile run-in with local gangsters, who are convinced her camera holds the first and only photos of their elusive leader. A policeman with a personal commitment to help those less fortunate finds Grace attractive and longs to help her, but Grace believes such men cannot be trusted. Spread thin between her quest to rescue her mother, do well in a new nanny job, and avoid the gang intent on intimidating her, Grace must put her faith in unlikely sources to learn the true meaning of courage and forgiveness. From the Author Many of our ancestors' stories are tales of incredible courage, endurance, bravery, and faith. Imagining what it must have taken for them to make the journey to America inspired me to write the Ellis Island series. Set during a time when the contrast between the extremely rich and extremely poor was vast, this story reveals the corruption and crime in Lower Manhattan that was often the result that disparity. But there were also aid societies and reformers working hard to help new immigrants make their way in American society. It was also a time when many of the inventions we now take for granted, but readily recognize, were introduced, like the Brownie camera. These inventions allowed people to do things they'd never been able to do before--like take photographs out on the streets so quickly someone might not realize they'd been photographed. I took those elements and created a story for Grace, a young woman who longs for the peace she sees in other people's portraits and hopes to find for herself in her new country. From the Back Cover ?Listen to me,? her mother had said. ?I don?t care what lies your father once spoke to you, darlin?. . . . Remember instead this: You are smart. You are important. You are able.?Grace McCaffery hopes the bustling streets of New York hold all the promise the lush hills of Ireland did not. As her efforts to earn enough money to bring her mother to America fail, she wonders if her new Brownie camera could be the answer. But a casual stroll through a beautiful New York City park turns into a hostile run-in with local gangsters, who are convinced her camera holds the first and only photos of their elusive leader.A policeman with a personal commitment to help those less fortunate finds Grace attractive and longs to help her, but Grace believes such men cannot be trusted. Spread thin between her quest to rescue her mother, do well in a new nanny job, and avoid the gang intent on intimidating her, Grace must put her faith in unlikely sources to learn the true meaning of courage and forgiveness. About the Author Cindy Thomson is a writer and an avid genealogy enthusiast. Her love of history and her Scots-Irish heritage have inspired much of her writing, including her new Ellis Island series. Cindy is also the author of Brigid of Ireland and Celtic Wisdom: Treasures from Ireland. She combined her love of history and baseball to co-author the biography Three Finger: The Mordecai Brown Story, which was a finalist for the Society for American Baseball Research's Larry Ritter Book Award. In addition to books, Cindy has written on a regular basis for numerous online and print publications and is a mentor for the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild. She is also a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and the Historical Novel Society. Cindy and her husband have three grown sons and live in central Ohio. Visit her online at cindyswriting