Brooklyn / Druk 1

In a small town in the south-east of Ireland in the 1950s; Eilis Lacey is one among many of her generation who cannot find work at home. So when a job is offered in America; it is clear that she must go. Leaving her family and home; Eilis sets off to forge a new life for herself in Brooklyn. Young; homesick and alone; she gradually buries the pain of parting beneath the rhythms of a new life - days at the till in a large department store; night classes in Brooklyn College and Friday evenings on the dance floor of the parish hall - until she realizes that she has found a sort of happiness. But when tragic news summons her back to Ireland; and the constrictions of her old life unexpectedly give way to new possibilities; she finds herself facing a terrible choice: between love and happiness in the land where she belongs and the promises she must keep on the far side of the ocean. "Brooklyn" is a tender story of great love and loss; and of the heartbreaking choice between personal freedom and duty. In the character of Eilis Lacey Colm Toibin has created a remarkable heroine and in "Brooklyn" a novel of devastating emotional power.