Brooklyn
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3.7 • 29 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The Sunday Times Novel of the Year 2009
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, WINNER OF THE BAFTA FOR BEST BRITISH FILM
"The most compelling and moving portrait of a young woman I have read in a long time" Guardian, Books of the Year
Young Eilis Lacey dreams of life beyond the confines of her tiny Irish village, but unlike her beautiful sister, Rose, Eilis' gifts are of a more practical nature: she has a head for numbers, and is a loving and dutiful daughter. Yet her ambition cannot be hidden and soon is noted by the Parish Priest, Father Flood. Via a church contact, he arranges for Eilis to travel to America where a job opportunity has arisen in New York with a reputable "merchant of Italian origin".
Eilis finds lodgings in an eccentric boarding house and ekes out an existence in the cosmopolitan melting pot that is 1950s Brooklyn, impressing her employer, outwitting her landlady, and even falling in love. It seems her dream is truly becoming a reality. But then fate intervenes: a family crisis back home forces Eilis to make a choice between the past and the future, the old world and the new.
Told with a masterful and elegant simplicity, Brooklyn is a sublime Trans-Atlantic coming-of-age story by one of the UK's greatest living writers.
MORE PRAISE FOR BROOKLYN
"A work of such skill, understatement and sly jewelled merriment, it could haunt your life" Ali Smith, Times Literary Supplement, 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
"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 fiction 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
"Tremendously moving and powerful" New Statesman
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn has stood the test of time since its 2009 release. The award-winning historical novel inspired an acclaimed 2015 film adaptation, as well as a sequel in 2024’s Long Island. The story continues to invite repeated reads, thanks to its poignant portrayal of a young woman straddling continents and cultures after she departs her native Ireland in search of work opportunities in post-WWII New York. Eilis slowly falls in love with a kindly Italian man hoping to build a family, only to be called back to Ireland for her own family reasons. While home again, she meets another man who makes her question her well-laid plans for the future. Tóibín captures the vibrant period details of both evocative backdrops, all while telling a story that is achingly universal.
