Long Island

By: Colm Toibin

Narrated by: Jessie Buckley

* OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER *
* NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2024 BY TIME MAGAZINE, THE NEW YORKER, WASHINGTON POST, VULTURE, GLAMOUR, FRESH AIR, NPR, THE GUARDIAN, THE ECONOMIST, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, THE TIMES (London), THE IRISH TIMES, THE NEW STATESMAN, THE INDEPENDENT, THE OBSERVER, and more *

“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).

Character development and language used

I miss the characters now I’ve finished the book ! Hope there is another book in the works .

The family’s feeling About the Baby

The end. What happened when she got home and the baby was next door, the family reaction to Ellish and the baby.

Believable

I’m disappointed we are left hanging without resolution at the last page. Language and story line was quite good tho I have no idea what is a STRAND” ?!

I’m left hanging

Very well written. As far as the story - It was not believable that Tony could have done that - his family is so very close. I feel like it ended leaving us all hanging. Elise left people hanging so maybe that is why it ended that way !

Writer and Reader and Audience Hit Gold

Colm Toibin has been one of my favorite authors for years. Now that my eyes get tired and I am listening more to his words, I realize, even more, the brilliance of his language. This reading is a lovely tribute to Toibin’s art. I could listen all day to the narrator’s wonderful voice and her intelligent understanding of Toibin’ss well crafted characters.