Land of Dreams

September 1, 2014
The end of the Ellis Island trilogy (Ellis Island, 2011; City of Hope, 2013) takes Ellie Hogan's life in an unexpected direction. In 1942, she's twice widowed, raising two adopted sons, and working in Fire Island on her hallmark abstract landscapes, which have garnered some acclaim. Then 16-year-old Leo, son of her second husband, Charles Irvington, who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor, runs away from boarding school to become a Hollywood actor. Ellie goes after her beloved boy, relocating her household to Los Angeles to nurture Leo's artistic dreams while her own fade. With her 7-year-old son, Tom, thriving, and even household matriarch Bridie Flannery enjoying the Hollywood scene, Ellie struggles with her relationship with older composer Stanislaw Lilius, who adores her. Readers of the earlier novels may cotton less to Ellie here, as she repeatedly recounts her life's losses and displays an impulsiveness that can be damaging despite her good intentions. But Kerrigan, who provides enough backstory for this novel to stand alone, captures the 1942 Hollywood milieu nicely with her sure touch for historical fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)