- Irish, Women immigrants, Fiction, History
In Ireland in the early 1950s, Eilis Lacey is one of many who cannot find work at home. Thus when a job is offered in America, it is clear to everyone that she must go. Leaving behind her family and country, Eilis heads for unfamiliar Brooklyn, and to a crowded boarding house where the landlady's intense scrutiny and the small jealousies of her fellow residents only deepen her isolation. Slowly, the pain of parting is buried beneath the rhythms of her new life -- and finally, 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 Enniscorthy -- not to the constrictions of her old life, but to new possibilities which conflict deeply with the life she has left behind in Brooklyn.
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Character
Earnest, classical in form, grave and contemplative.
- earnestironic
- classical in formformally daring
- gravecomic
- contemplativerelentless
- unpretentiousprestige
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About the book
- Author
- Colm Tóibín
- First published
- 2009
- Pages
- 262
- Publisher
- VIKING, Center Point Pub., 10-18
- Editions
- 10
- Language
- Chinese, French, English
- ISBN
- 9780670918126
Where to read
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On Open Library, 17 have read it and 102 want to.
Irish novelist and writer
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