This is Leah with the Sioux City Public Library and you’re listening to Check It Out.
Today, I’m recommending the Eilis Lacey two-part book series by acclaimed Irish writer Colm Tóibín.
The first novel of Eilis Lacey’s story, Brooklyn, is an exploration of belonging and choice initially published in 2009 and adapted to film in 2015. Readers are introduced to Eilis– a sheltered young Irish woman whose life course is forever altered after immigrating to vibrant 1950s New York. Through Eilis, Tóibín creates a captivating and honest portrait of the 20th century immigration experience—the loneliness and pain of starting over and the mourning of one’s past self, and the discovery of hope and growing confidence in new beginnings. Brooklyn’s conclusion leaves both Eilis and the reader at a major crossroads, but thankfully Tóibín set out to rectify that fifteen years later.
Long Island is the second installment of the series, published in 2024, and returns to Eilis’ story in the spring of 1976. Here, Tóibín employs a fractured narrative to explore multiple characters’ perspectives. In doing so, he better emphasizes the repercussions of choice and how deeply the events of the past can impact the present. This novel rarely went the direction I wanted it to, instead subjecting readers fully to the discomfort of change and tumultuous waves of disappointment and hope. That said, it is as warm and insightful a story as its predecessor and offers readers some well-deserved closure after 15 years of anticipation.
If you enjoy thoughtful historical fiction and emotionally resonant, complex characters, check out Brooklyn and Long Island by Colm Tóibín at the Sioux City Public Library.