Brooklyn
Description
Colm Toibin's Brooklyn is a devastating story of love, loss and one woman's terrible choice between duty and personal freedom.
It is Ireland in the early 1950s and for Eilis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce. So when her sister arranges for her to emigrate to New York, Eilis knows she must go, leaving behind her family and her home for the first time.
Arriving in a crowded lodging house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what she has sacrificed. She is far from home - and homesick. And just as she takes tentative steps towards friendship, and perhaps something more, Eilis receives news which sends her back to Ireland. There she will be confronted by a terrible dilemma - a devastating choice between duty and one great love.
Reviews / Votes
With this elating and humane novel, Colm Toibin has produced a masterwork * Sunday Times * The most compelling and moving portrait of a young woman I have read in a long time -- Zoe Heller * Guardian, Books of the Year * A work of such skill, understatement and sly jewelled merriment could haunt your life -- Ali Smith * TLS, Books of the Year * Suffused with humane depth, funny, affecting, deftly plotted ... a novel of magnificent accomplishment -- Peter Kemp * Sunday Times, Novel of the Year * Brooklyn moved me more than any other book this year -- Nicholas Hytner * Observer, Books of the Year * A beautifully crafted work that transformed ordinary lives into something extraordinary * Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year * No book this year gave me greater pleasure -- Nell Freudenberger * Financial Times * Not a sentence or a thought out of place. It takes over as his finest ficiton to date * Irish Times * Remarkable freshness and immediacy ... with a lovely comedic lightness * Daily Mail * A lovely, thoughtful book ... alive with authentic detail, moved along by the ripples of affection and doubt that shape any life: a novel that offers the reader serious pleasure * Daily Telegraph *More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Colm Tóibín was born in Enniscorthy in 1955. He is the author of nine novels including The Master, Brooklyn, The Testament of Mary and Nora Webster and, most recently, House of Names. His work has been shortlisted for the Booker three times, won the Costa Novel Award and the Impac Award. He has also published two collections of stories and many works of non-fiction. He lives in Dublin.