THE LAST DAYS OF ELLIS ISLAND
New York, November 3, 1954. In a few days, the immigration inspection station on Ellis Island will close its doors forever. John Mitchell, an officer of the Bureau of Immigration, is the guardian and last resident of the island. As Mitchell looks back over forty-five years as gatekeeper to America and its promise of a better life, he recalls his brief marriage to beloved wife Liz, and is haunted by memories of a transgression involving Nella, an immigrant from Sardinia. Told in a series of poignant diary entries, this is a story of responsibility, love, fidelity, and remorse.
New York, November 3, 1954. In a few days, the immigration inspection station on Ellis Island will close its doors forever. John Mitchell, an officer of the Bureau of Immigration, is the guardian and last resident of the island. As Mitchell looks back over forty-five years as gatekeeper to America and its promise of a better life, he recalls his brief marriage to beloved wife Liz, and is haunted by memories of a transgression involving Nella, an immigrant from Sardinia. Told in a series of poignant diary entries, this is a story of responsibility, love, fidelity, and remorse.
- World Editions
- Paperback
- November 2020
- 208 Pages
- 9781642860719
Buy the Book
$15.99
About Gaelle Josse
Gaëlle Josse is a French poet and writer living in Paris. She received the European Union Prize for Literature for The Last Days of Ellis Island, along with the Grand Livre du Mois Literary Prize.
Praise
Winner of the European Union Prize for Literature
“Intimate, alluring and at times haunting, The Last Days of Ellis Island imagines the closing hours of Ellis Island’s existence as a gateway for the hopeful through the eyes of its last caretaker. Josse examines with care how life, no matter where you spend it, is a weave of wonderful moments and sad ones; moments we are insanely grateful for and moments we wish with everything within that we could take back. Eloquently and skillfully rendered.” —Susan Meissner, bestselling author of A Fall of Marigolds
“The Last Days of Ellis Island is a tragic story of a man who spends forty-five years working as an immigration official on Ellis island. Josse masterfully weaves this moving story of love and loss around the larger historical context of the massive wave of immigration arriving in the U.S. in the early 1900s. Beautifully written, The Last Days of Ellis Island is compelling historical fiction with a dash of magical realism added in.”—Vincent J. Cannato, author of American Passage: The History of Ellis Island
Discussion Questions
1. How successful do you think Josse is in evoking the detail and atmosphere of the station at Ellis Island? Did you feel taken back to the time and place?
2. What do you think of the atmospheric and dreamy style used by Josse? How does it make you feel?
3. We see the narrator recounting his past life, but not necessarily involved in m/any actions in the present. What do you imagine him to spend these last days doing when he isn’t writing in his diary? What sort of character do you imagine him to have?
4. Did your opinion of him change drastically throughout the course of the novel? Were you surprised at his behavior, or maybe at his reactions to his own behavior?
5. What do you think happened to Nella after leaving the station? Can you imagine her next few months, or even years? Where do you think she is now?
6. Have you or any of your family been affected my immigration/emigration? If so, how?
7. Or perhaps you even had ancestors that passed directly through the Ellis Island station itself. If so, how do you feel about Josse’s fictionalization of their experience?
8. How far do you think we have come from the events narrated in the novel? Thinking about ideas such as nation-building, immigration, alienation – what do you think has changed and what has stayed the same?
9. At the end of the book, Josse gives a little bit of insight into her visit to Ellis Island; she describes her shock and “vertigo” at being in that particular place. Have you ever been overwhelmed by such a sense of “placeness,” perhaps at a site of personal, national, or international history? If so, could you describe your experience?
10. What do you think Josse’s intentions were in writing this novel?
11. What did you think of the ending to the story?