Long Island
By Colm Toibin
Harry Hartog's review
This long-awaited follow-up to the award-winning Brooklyn takes place in my hometown of Lindenhurst, New York - what are the chances?!?! - and Ireland. You can easily read Long Island as a standalone, but if you enjoyed Brooklyn, you will love the sequel. Perfect for fans of Irish literature, endearing but flawed characters, nuanced relationships and messy family dynamics, Toibin poses the question: Is it ever too late to take a different path in life? - Renee, Harry Hartog Marrickville
Description
A novel of enormous wit and profound emotional resonance from one of the world's finest writers.
Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighbouring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony's parents. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis, now in her forties with two teenage children, has no-one to rely on in this still-new country.
One day, an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony's child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but will leave it with her. Eilis has choices to make, and what she does in the wake of this shattering news is at the heart of one of Toibin's most riveting and emotional novels to date.
Praise for Long Island
'A masterful novel full of longing and regret ... Intensely moving and yet full of restraint' Douglas Stuart
'His best yet ... It reads like the tensest of stage plays, but with all the pleasures of interiority that the novel form allows. I haven't wanted to hug this many characters in a while' Naoise Dolan
- ISBN:
- 9781761267734
- Format:
- Paperback
- Pages:
- 304
- Published:
- Publisher:
- Pan Macmillan Australia
- Imprint:
- Picador Australia
- Weight:
- 389 g