Grace was sent to live in a workhouse in Ireland after her mother was thrown out of their home. With no money, her mother was able to get Grace the opportunity to go to New York, where a church organization would help Grace find a job.

It always amazes me how these young people left their homes and families, got on a ship, and traveled across the sea, never truly knowing what would be awaiting them on the other side. What bravery that took!

Grace is taken to Reverend Clarke, a man of God who helps immigrants find work and form a community. My favorite line in the book is from Reverend Clarke, who said to Grace, "And I ask myself, is there more love in the world because of what I'm doing? If not, I need to change that." Imagine if everyone in the world followed that idea, what a lovely place this would be.

Grace finds work as a nanny to a family of five young children. Their mother appears indifferent and their father is a busy businessman, who wants to control everything and everyone. Grace has a hard time at first dealing with them all, but she grows to love the children.

Thomson has a way with a phrase, like this one: "Owen's mother and her friend jabbered so much a candle didn't have a chance of staying lit in the room." She drops us right into the setting, teaching us the slang of the day, such as "peeler" for police officer.

Her visual imagery is strong as well, describing a group of newsboys sleeping in a doorway as "huddled together like puppies." I immediately had that picture in my mind. Grace takes her young charges to Battery Park, and Thomson's description of that scene brought the place to life, as they dodged pretzel vendors and young boys" hawking trinkets".

The theme of immigrants and how they are perceived by the society is a timely topic, as Congress is now debating how best to deal with the immigration issue in our country. We can see in this novel that, although set over 100 year ago, the treatment of immigrants is a topic our country has grappled with for a long time.

A unique aspect of this story is Grace's infatuation with the newfangled Brownie camera. Grace meets a photographer and is entranced with his work. She saves her money, buys herself a simple camera, and teaches herself to takes photos. At times, this gets her into trouble as she accidentally takes photos of a mobster who doesn't want to be photographed. This storyline adds an interesting piece to the novel.

There is a love story, and some action as Grace's camera gets her into trouble. I liked that Grace found people who helped and encouraged her, rather than took advantage of her as we often see in stories like this. We also see New York at the turn of the century, along with the internal politics of the police department. Thomson clearly did a great deal of research for this novel.

If you like immigrant stories, Grace's Pictures is one you should not miss. I'm hoping that we meet Grace and her friends again in the future as she surely has more of her story to tell. ( )

Grace's Pictures - Book 1 of Cindy Thomson's Ellis Island Novels
Published June 2013
Tyndale House Publishers

Fascinating look into the life of Grace, a newly arrived Irish immigrant to America, at the turn of the century in 1900-1901. The effects of a childhood spent in the workhouse and her father's emotional and psychological abuse have long lasting and far reaching effects. At nineteen she is still dealing with the emotional scars and valiantly battling the lies that rise to confront her every step into her future in this new land.

I longed for Grace to make the right choices. To stand up strong. To learn to trust. To believe God's truth about her, so well put in her mother's mantra, "I am smart. I am important. I am able.", that sustains her, until the final revelation in her ma's song over her as a child. From Be Thou My Vision, "Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one". The final recognition that her earthly father's constant criticism didn't determine her worth. Her heavenly Father's perspective is what mattered.

Longing for safety in her new country, Grace finds a haven at her home provided by the Benevolents. But not outside that home. Greed of landlords taking advantage of immigrants' housing needs, corruption amongst the policeforce, predators on naive and needy newcomers. Grace's own belittling experiences during hiring and poor treatment by employers whilst working as a maid; finding her way in every new area of life - massive adjustments, relational misunderstandings, confrontations, and losses,yet Grace perseveres. And we're treated to the inside story of her courageous journey.

Her fascination with being photographed upon entry at Ellis Island leads to personal growth and joy once she pursues the hobby. Yet this too proves unsafe when she photographs the wrong members of NY society and ends up stalked, pursued and harassed with serious consequences. No, definitely not the safe country she hoped for and believed she'd found.

All lead to a full story of Grace's experiences, suspense, and subplots that bring the story to the loveliest romantically subtle closing. I re-read it several times just to repeat the enjoyment...

A great summer reading addition for those who like their historical stories with realistic details. authentic characters, and a side of romance.

*Thank you to Tyndale House Publishers for providing an ebook copy to read and review without obligation.

*Reviewed for the TYndale Summer Reading Program and
*Tyndale Rewards Program for Free books and audiobooks. Receive your 1st 25 Rewards points Free by joining via www.tyndalerewards.com/signup/?pc=czy7-p50u-hg08-i7jb ( )

Grace’s Pictures by Cindy Thomson is a heart warming story set in 1900 and takes place in New York City. Grace McCaffery is a recent immigrant from Ireland and she has an extremely hard time trusting anyone, especially policemen. Grace feels very unworthy due to the abusive words her deceased father often spoke to her. Most of the time he was drunk and yelled at her telling her she was worthless, simple minded, and other derogatory words. Her mother tried to combat his words by telling Grace that she was smart, important, and able. Grace does not have much faith in God for she feels that He does not care about her. Grace is befriended by Mrs. Hawkins from the Benevolent Society and helps her to get a job as a nanny and housekeeper. Grace is determined to earn enough money to bring her mother to America and she thinks that maybe her new Brownie Camera may be the way to make extra money. While walking in the park, she unwittingly takes a picture of a mob leader and this causes a great deal of trouble for Grace. Owen is from a well to do family and feels called of God to be a policeman and help those less fortunate and downtrodden. He finds Grace attractive and wants to help her but she believes that no policeman can be trusted. Because of all her troubles, Grace finally has to trust a few people and this helps her learn courage and forgiveness.

The characters were very realistic and each one simply came alive on the pages of the book. Grace was so real that at times I just wanted to give her a lecture about trust. I suppose if I had grown up as she did that I would not have trusted anyone either. All the scenes were so well described that I was enjoying the walk in the park, tea with the ladies, or whatever was taking place. The plot was filled with suspense, romance, and history and there was never a dull moment in the action. It was evident that the author did her homework when it came to research and I thoroughly enjoyed all the historical facts that she included in the book. Not only did the author write a book that was very enjoyable to read, she gave us things to think about.

The following links are provided for readers interested in more information about this book and the author.

Author’s Image:

http://www.tyndale.com/authorphotos/amazon/1450/pic_full_thomson_cindy.jpg

Author Q & A:

http://mediacenter.tyndale.com/downloads/press_kits/GracePicAuthorQ&A.pdf

Chapter One exerpt:

http://files.tyndale.com/thpdata/FirstChapters/978-1-4143-6843-6.pdf

Author’s Blog:

http://cindythomson.blogspot.com/

I recommend this book highly to anyone that likes a great story set in the early twentieth century, is based on historical facts, has romance, and a lot of suspense.

Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. ( )