Long Island (Eilis Lacey Series)
OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * "Stunning." --People * "Dazzling yet devastating...Tóibín is simply one of the world's best living literary writers." --The Boston Globe * "Momentous and hugely affecting." --The Wall Street Journal * From the beloved, critically acclaimed, bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving novel featuring Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín's most popular work in twenty years. Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony's parents, a huge extended family. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis is now forty with two teenage children. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades. One day, when Tony is at work 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 instead deposit it on Eilis's doorstep. It is what Eilis does--and what she refuses to do--in response to this stunning news that makes Tóibín's novel so riveting and suspenseful. Long Island is a gorgeous story "about a woman thrashing against the constraints of fate" (Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air). It is "a wonder, rich with yearning and regret" (Star Tribune, Minneapolis).
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Community Reviews
Colm Tolbin’s “Long Island” is a synergy of Sally Rooney’s romantic stories and Ann Napolitano’s family dramas. It was engaging from the first paragraph and is the follow up to her book “Brooklyn.” This one takes place 20-ish years after the first book. I didn’t know it was a series at the time of picking it up. Tolbin’s written “Long Island” to stand on its own and extend the Ellis Lacy story at the same time.
Though it starts with a bang, it did lull in the middle and lost me in some parts. In the end it pulled itself back together and ends at a point that will leave you wishing for a third installment. I am sure some production house will pick up and adapt this novel for television as well. It has all the romantic, playful, and just the right amount of messy drama to make for good TV.
Tolbin produces vivid imagery of setting and time that flows neatly out from elegant style of writing. I have never been to Ireland but felt like it was at the top of my fingers with every page. I especially love how Tolbin uses dual perspectives on the same scene to enrich the experience for the reader. It omnipresent in a he said she said kind of way. A good read but still a surprise to me that it made Oprah’s book club list.
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