Long Island
Synopsis
Long Island is Colm Tóibín’s masterpiece: an exquisite, exhilarating novel that asks whether it is possible to truly return to the past and renew the great love that seemed gone forever.
A Book of the Year in The Times, Irish Times, The Guardian, New Statesman, The Independent, The Observer, The New Yorker, The Economist, The Daily Telegraph and The Financial Times.
The love story of the century
A man with an Irish accent knocks on Eilis Fiorello’s door on Long Island and in that moment everything changes. Eilis and Tony have built a secure, happy life here since leaving Brooklyn - perhaps a little stifled by the in-laws so close, but twenty years married and with two children looking towards a good future.
And yet this stranger will reveal something that will make Eilis question the life she has created. For the first time in years she suddenly feels very far from home and the revelation will see her turn towards Ireland once again. Back to her mother. Back to the town and the people she had chosen to leave behind. Did she make the wrong choice marrying Tony all those years ago? Is it too late now to take a different path?
‘Riveting’ Elizabeth Strout
‘Masterful’ Douglas Stuart
‘Wonderful’ Oprah Winfrey
‘Entrancing’ The Economist
‘Magnificent’ The Times
‘Exquisite’ New York Times
‘Gorgeous’ The Independent
‘Dazzling’ The Financial Times
‘A masterclass’ The Guardian
*Long Island was an instant Sunday Times bestseller w/c 27/5/24
Details
Reviews
Long Island is the best new novel I’ve read in years – and it’s as persuasive an argument in defence of the unique capability of the novel form as you could ever hope to findMegan Nolan, Telegraph
You don't have to have read Brooklyn to enjoy the many pleasures of Long Island. It is a masterful novel full of longing and regret. A tale of lovers reconnecting, of compromise, and the settling that can come later in life. Intensely moving and yet full of restraint, I was sad to turn the final pageDouglas Stuart, author of Shuggie Bain
A brilliant novel . . . it is beautifully crafted and makes for a riveting, wonderful readElizabeth Strout, Observer
Heartbreak, wistfulness, cracking dialogue . . . This is Tóibín at his bestRobbie Millen, The Times