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The sequel to the prize-winning, bestselling novel Brooklyn . A novel of enormous wit and profound emotional resonance from one of the world''s finest writers. In Colm Toibin''s masterful new novel, we are reunited with Eilis Lacey, the heroine of Brooklyn , twenty years on, in the 1970s, living with her husband, Tony Fiorello, and her children in a house in Long Island, rather too close to her Fiorello in-laws. A shocking piece of news propels Eilis back to Ireland, to a world she thought she had long left behind and to ways of living, and loving, she thought she had lost. PRAISE FOR BROOKLYN ''With this elating and humane novel, Colm Toibin has produced a masterwork'' - The Sunday Times ''The most compelling and moving portrait of a young woman I have read in a long time'' - Zoe Heller, The 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, The Sunday Times , Novel of the Year
About the author
Colm Tóibín was born in Ireland in 1955. He is the author of ten previous novels, including The Master, Brooklyn, and The Magician, and two collections of stories. He has been three times shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In 2021, he was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature. Tóibín was appointed the Laureate for Irish Fiction for 2022-2024. Long Island is his eleventh novel.
Summary
'Heartbreak, wistfulness, cracking dialogue . . . This is Tóibín at his best' - The Times
'A masterful novel full of longing and regret . . . Intensely moving and yet full of restraint' - Douglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain
OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK
Long Island is Colm Tóibín’s masterpiece: an exquisite, exhilarating novel that asks whether it is possible to truly return to the past and renew the great love that seemed gone forever. The sequel to Colm Tóibín's prize-winning, bestselling novel Brooklyn.
A man with an Irish accent knocks on Eilis Fiorello’s door on Long Island and in that moment everything changes. Eilis and Tony have built a secure, happy life here since leaving Brooklyn - perhaps a little stifled by the in-laws so close, but twenty years married and with two children looking towards a good future.
And yet this stranger will reveal something that will make Eilis question the life she has created. For the first time in years she suddenly feels very far from home and the revelation will see her turn towards Ireland once again. Back to her mother. Back to the town and the people she had chosen to leave behind. Did she make the wrong choice marrying Tony all those years ago? Is it too late now to take a different path?
