Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín – October 2009

[Clare Bookclub Mod]

“Brooklyn” is set partly in New York and partly in Ireland in the early 1950s. Eilis Lacey is a quiet and dutiful daughter, living a narrow life with her mother and older sister, Rose. Her brothers have emigrated to England and Eilis herself soon sets sail for Brooklyn. Working at a Department store, she is initially friendless and acutely lonely but gradually she embraces new freedoms. With the help of the kindly Father Flood, she takes a night course in commercial law in Brooklyn College and excels. As she falls in love with a handsome Italian plumber called Tony she begins to imagine a life in America. However, tragedy strikes at home and Eilis returns to discover the hopes and aspirations once beyond her grasp are now hers for the taking. She becomes caught between two worlds, unsure where her obligations and affections truly lie. She is faced with the decision of staying in Ireland or going back to the more exciting life she had started to create in Brooklyn.