How many of us know the specific loneliness of moving by oneself to New York, that seemingly impossible paradox of being surrounded by people, robbed of privacy, and yet going for hours without speaking to another human being? Toibin's work here, in the understated voice of Irish-born Eilis Lacey, proves that this psychological experience was much the same in the 1950s as it is now. The prose is deceptively simple, so deft that one can't pinpoint exactly where it happened in the text that you found yourself, mirroring Eilis, subtly transformed.
— Andi
May 2009 Indie Next List
“Eilis Lacey has come of age in the dark, impoverished Ireland of the 1950s. Trained as a bookkeeper but unable to find suitable work, she makes a new home in Brooklyn. Struggling to understand her new world and haunted by the old, she lives the classic immigrant story of loss and regret, hope and resilience. Brooklyn is a quiet tour de force.”
— Nan Hadden, Books Etc., Falmouth, ME
March 2010 Indie Next List
“One of the loveliest novels of 2009 now available in paperback: an Irish coming-of-age story that is both heartrending and full of hope. Toibin is a master.”
— Matthew Lage, Iowa Book L.L.C., Iowa City, IA
Summer '10 Reading Group List
“Eilis Lacey has no apparent future in rural Ireland, and with the help of a priest makes her way to a Catholic enclave in Brooklyn. Uncanny in its evocation of a young woman coming of age, and of a city coming of age, Brooklyn is at once interior and ironic, distanced and involving. Toibin, who is masterful here in his depiction of Brooklyn and Ireland circa 1950, and of such issues as self determination, love of country, love of family, and, of course, sexual love. Perfect for book groups!”
— Betsy Burton, The King's English, Salt Lake City, UT
Description
Colm Tóibín’s New York Times bestselling novel—now an acclaimed film starring Saoirse Ronan and Jim Broadbent nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture—is “a moving, deeply satisfying read” (Entertainment Weekly) about a young Irish immigrant in Brooklyn in the early 1950s.
“One of the most unforgettable characters in contemporary literature” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette), Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the hard years following World War Two. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America, she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind.
Eilis finds work in a department store on Fulton Street, and when she least expects it, finds love. Tony, who loves the Dodgers and his big Italian family, slowly wins her over with patient charm. But just as Eilis begins to fall in love, devastating news from Ireland threatens the promise of her future.
Author “Colm Tóibín…is his generation’s most gifted writer of love’s complicated, contradictory power” (Los Angeles Times). “Written with mesmerizing power and skill” (The Boston Globe), Brooklyn is a “triumph…One of those magically quiet novels that sneak up on readers and capture their imaginations” (USA TODAY).
About the Author
Colm Tóibín is the author of ten novels, including The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; The Testament of Mary; and Nora Webster, as well as two story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and has been named as the Laureate for Irish Fiction for 2022–2024 by the Arts Council of Ireland. Three times shortlisted for the Booker Prize, Tóibín lives in Dublin and New York.
Praise For…
Praise for Brooklyn
“Written with mesmerizing power and skill.” —Richard Eder, Boston Globe
“Colm Tóibín … [is] his generation’s most gifted writer of love’s complicated, contradictory power.” —Floyd Skoot, Los Angeles Times
“Tóibín creates suspense out of the simplest emotions: fear, love and, most poignantly, regret.” —Time
“Eilis' universal struggles with matters of the heart … make this novel … a moving, deeply satisfying read.” —Entertainment Weekly
“[A] gem of a novel… profound.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR
“Quietly majestic.” —Claire Messud, The New York Review of Books
“[A] masterly tale… There is not a sentence or a thought out of place…. His finest fiction to date.” —Bernard O’Donoghue, Irish Times
"[A] triumph… One of those magically quiet novels that sneak up on readers and capture their imaginations." —USA Today
“Eilis Lacey has come of age in the dark, impoverished Ireland of the 1950s. Trained as a bookkeeper but unable to find suitable work, she makes a new home in Brooklyn. Struggling to understand her new world and haunted by the old, she lives the classic immigrant story of loss and regret, hope and resilience. Brooklyn is a quiet tour de force.”