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It’s 1992 and the Ellis Island Museum has been open for two years. Celestina, a retired nurse, is surprised to receive an invitation to give a brief oral history about her years living and working at Ellis Island Hospital. After her interview session is recorded, memories of caring for patients during the Great Depression and World War II come flooding to the surface. Her daughter Helena realizes this is only the tip of the iceberg and encourages her mother to continue recording her story. Celestina agrees and begins telling about the many challenges she faced as an immigrant transitioning from a young village girl to a confident nurse. As she retells her story, Celestina begins to wonder what challenges her patients faced after they were discharged from her care. A visit to the Ellis Island Museum library that summer unlocks answers for her.
Carole Limata is the author of Luna Babies and the Ellis Angels series: Ellis Angels: The Nurses of Ellis Island Hospital, Ellis Angels on the Move and Angels in Brooklyn, and her most recent novel, Celestina’s Story. Ellis Angels is the first in the series.
After graduating from Queens College, Carole received a Bachelor’s degree from Sacramento State University and a Master’s degree in Nursing from the University of California at San Francisco.
Throughout her forty-year nursing career, Carole worked as a staff nurse, genetics supervisor, maternity instructor and director. After retirement from nursing, she began writing historical fiction novels. In 2017, Carole received an Excellence in Nursing Research Award from The International Nurses Honor Society, Sigma Theta Tau-Nu Xi chapter, in recognition of her nursing history research for Ellis Angels.
All proceeds from the book go directly to supporting Save Ellis Island's mission to restore the 29 buildings in the Historic Hospital Complex.
