Colm Toibin's Brooklyn is a devastating story of love, loss and one woman's terr
ible choice between duty and personal freedom. It is Ireland in the early 1950s
and for Eilis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce.
So when her sister arranges for her to emigrate to New York, Eilis knows she mu
st go, leaving behind her family and her home for the first time.
Arriving in
a crowded lodging house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what she has
sacrificed. She is far from home - and homesick. And just as she takes tentativ
e steps towards friendship, and perhaps something more, Eilis receives news whic
h sends her back to Ireland.
