Description

‘Heartbreak, wistfulness, cracking dialogue . . . This is Toibin at his best’ – The Times
‘A masterful novel full of longing and regret . . . Intensely moving and yet full of restraint’ – Douglas Stuart, author Shuggie Bain

Long Island is Colm Toibin’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 Toibin’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?

Publisher Review

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, author of Exciting Times and The Happy Couple With this elating and humane novel, Colm Toibin has produced a masterwork * Sunday Times, on Brooklyn * The most compelling and moving portrait of a young woman I have read in a long time -- Zoe Heller, Guardian, Books of the Year, on Brooklyn A work of such skill, understatement and sly jewelled merriment could haunt your life -- Ali Smith, TLS, Books of the Year, on Brooklyn Suffused with humane depth, funny, affecting, deftly plotted . . . a novel of magnificent accomplishment -- Peter Kemp, Sunday Times, Novel of the Year, on Brooklyn