It is Enniscorthy in the southeast of Ireland in the early 1950s. Eilis Lacey is one among many of her generation who cannot find work at home. Thus when a job is offered in America, it is clear to everyone that she must go. Eilis heads for unfamiliar Brooklyn to a crowded boarding house. Slowly, the pain of parting is buried beneath the rhythms of her new life—until she begins to realize that she has found a sort of happiness. As she falls in love, news comes from home that forces her back to Ireland, where she finds new possibilities that conflict deeply with the life she has left behind in Brooklyn.
An exceptionally subdued novel, BROOKLYN is enhanced by the velvety voice of Kirsten Potter, whose narration is skilled and personable. The quiet progress of protagonist Eilis as she journeys from small-town Ireland to postwar Brooklyn is enlivened by Potter's effortless delivery of accents and personalities. Various characters move through Brooklyn's streets and Eilis's life, and Potter is at the ready with distinct voices for each one. With its simple prose and plot, the story of Eilis's time in her new country might be overlooked without Potter's talents, which draw listeners in and keep them engaged. Potter takes an understated story and makes it well worth a listen. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
New Yorker...
"Tóibín's genius is that he makes it impossible for us to walk away."
About the Author
COLM TÓIBÍN’S novel, The Master, won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, Le prix du meilleur livre étranger, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. His other books of fiction include The Story of the Night, The Blackwater Lightship, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the short-fiction collection Mothers and Sons. He was one of the 2008 Scotiabank Giller Prize judges in Toronto. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.
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