The French novelist Georges Perec, whose Life: A User's Manual has been called a landmark of contemporary literature, has continually captured the American imagination, most recently with the publication of A Void, a novel written without the letter e. Ellis Island holds us in thrall once again. With poetic grace, insistent questioning, and a stunning carousel of images, Perec and filmmaker Robert Bober open our eyes to the intriguing blend of permanence and transience that is Ellis Island.

In lyrical prose, they explore their personal relationships to the themes of diaspora and identity, then interview men and women who, as children, arrived at Ellis Island full of hope and dreams about their new lives in America. Ellis Island offers a whole new presentation of the immigrant experience.