Colm Tóibín presents a striking vision of the Virgin Mary as a mother wracked with grief, who is bitterly mourning the brutal death of her son
Brooklyn
Written by Colm Tóibín
- Longlisted
- The Man Booker Prize 2009
- Published by Viking, Penguin
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Colm Tóibín’s tender story of deep love and devastating loss, and of the heartbreaking choice between two sides of an ocean, personal freedom and duty
In a small town in the south-east of Ireland in the 1950s, work is hard to find. Eilis Lacey escapes to forge a new life for herself in Brooklyn, America. Young, homesick and alone, she gradually buries the pain of parting to find a sort of happiness. But when tragic news summons her back to Ireland, she finds herself facing a terrible choice: between love and happiness in the land where she belongs and the promises she must keep on the far side of the ocean.
Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic and poet. He was born in County Wexford, Ireland
More about Colm Tóibín Other nominated books by Colm Tóibín
Colm Tóibín captures the exquisite anguish of a man whose artistic gifts led to triumph but whose private life was haunted by loneliness and longing
Three generations of women arrive at an uneasy peace after years of strife, in Colm Tóibín’s resonant and complex family drama
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