Long Island

Long Island tells of Eilis, whose settled life on Long Island is disrupted when an Irish stranger arrives at her door with news. That news makes her doubt the life she shares with her husband Tony. She travels back to Ireland, to her mother and the town she once left, twenty years on, and wonders if her earlier choice was wrong and whether another path is still open. The novel explores returning to the past and reviving a love that seemed lost.

Why You Should Read?

• Meet Eilis, whose life on Long Island is unsettled by an Irish stranger's news.
• Understand how one revelation makes Eilis feel far from home and turn towards Ireland once more.
• Follow Eilis back to Ireland, to her mother and the town she left twenty years before.
• Ask whether Eilis made the wrong choice and whether it is too late to take a different path.

About the Author

Colm Tóibín, an Irish writer, was born on 30 May 1955. He produces novels, short stories, essays, journalism, criticism, plays and poetry. The South, his first novel, appeared in 1990. The Blackwater Lightship reached the Booker Prize shortlist. The Master, which imagines Henry James's inner life, also made that shortlist and received the 2006 International Dublin Literary Award. Nora Webster took the Hawthornden Prize, while The Magician, based on Thomas Mann's life, earned the Folio Prize. Fellow artists chose him for Aosdána, and he was given the biennial David Cohen Prize in 2021.