Long Island, Colm Toibin, author; Jessie Buckley, narrator
In this sequel to the novel “Brooklyn”, years have passed, and it is now the mid 1970’s. Eilis Lacey unexpectedly discovers that her husband Tony Fiorello has betrayed her. He is a plumber who visits the homes of his customers to make repairs. In one of these homes, he was unfaithful. Now that customer is pregnant, Her child is due in August, and her husband insists on giving the baby to them. He will not raise another man’s child and won’t have his home tainted by its presence. Eilis refuses to have the baby in her home or near her children. She will not raise another woman’s baby. Is this a stalemate?
Unbeknownst to Eilis, Tony and his family were deceiving her even further, since they were secretly consulting a lawyer, Tony’s brother Frank, to have their mother, Francesca, raise the baby in her home. When she discovers this, Frank swears her to secrecy. Eilis is humiliated by their behavior, and she is being treated as if she is the butt of their joke, a joke they find funny, but she does not. The entire family, Tony’s parents, Tony’s brothers and Eilis and her family all live next to each other in a kind of private compound. The baby would be right there, next door, forcing Eilis to witness the child’s presence.
The child is due in August. In order to clear her mind, and to decide what to do going forward, Eilis decides to return to Ireland to visit the mother she has not seen in more than two decades, and to stay at least until the end of August. Her daughter Rosella will start college in the fall and decides to go with her Eilis. Her son Larry wants to meet his other Irish family and will also travel with her. He feels he knows his Italian family and should know her family too. They have never met their Irish grandmother.
Eilis knows that Tony, her husband, does not like to be alone, but she also knows that one of his brothers will take him in while she is gone. She is not at fault. Tony started this. He wants to know if she will return. She seems unsure. She ties up the loose ends of her job working for Mr. Dakessian, and explains she should return at the end of August. He does not know about the child that is being adopted, but she expects the child to have been born by then. She wants no part of this disgrace that has befallen her.
As a young girl In Ireland, Eilis had been in a relationship with a young man named Jim. When she picked up and moved to Brooklyn, she abandoned him. In Brooklyn she secretly married Tony. Now, returning, once again, she wonders about Jim. When she bumps into a former close friend, Nancy, now a widow, she is invited to Nancy’s daughter’s wedding. She does not know that Nancy and Jim have decided to become engaged secretly. He does not know that Eilis will be at the wedding. They have not announced their engagement so as not to detract from her daughter’s wedding celebration. When Eilis and Jim meet again, there are unavoidable sparks between them that rekindle their affection.
Jim runs a bar and has little privacy, but he manages to secretly meet up with Eilis, until it is no longer a secret. He does not tell Nancy about her. Nancy runs a chip shop, but hears gossip from others and begins to wonder about Jim’s odd absences, since Eilis has returned. She simply cannot believe that they have become reacquainted with each other, but her suspicions are aroused.
Jim does not tell Eilis that he is engaged to Nancy. He has always been smitten with Eilis, and he never married when she left Ireland without explanation. He learned later that she had already been married to Tony and was living in Brooklyn. He would like to give up his life for her, and move to New York to begin again, though he has no idea how he would do it. Is she willing?
The lies and the betrayals mount quietly, but the effect is loud and disturbing when Nancy discovers the infidelity and has her own plans to save her relationship with Jim. How she saves him may be considered brilliant by some, devious by others. What does the reader think?
These characters keep too many secrets from each other. If they told the truth, would there be an alternate ending to this novel? Was Nancy too clever by half or brilliant in her deception? Will Nancy save her relationship with Jim or will Eilis lure him to New York to be with her at some point in an uncertain future? What kind of a man is Jim that he can two-time two women at the same time? What kind of many was Tony, as well, who betrayed his own devoted wife? How do the feelings about Eilis change for the reader as the story progresses? Are all the characters equally flawed? Will there be a sequel to this book too? I sure hope so.
The book is written with an underlying wit that makes even the worst betrayals palatable. ( )

4.5⭐️

Long Island by Colm Tóibín continues with the story of Eilis Lacey, our protagonist from Brooklyn . Set twenty years after the events of the first novel, Eilis, now in her forties, is the wife of Italian plumber Tony Fiorelli, whom we met in the first book. Parents to two teenagers, daughter Rossella and sixteen-year-old son Larry they have settled in Long Island in a cul-de-sac with Tony’s parents and two of her husband’s three brothers and their families as neighbors. Despite being a close-knit family and Eilis sharing a good relationship with everybody, she is conscious of how different she is from her close-knit extended family. The differences become more pronounced when Tony’s actions push their marriage into a downward spiral, and she feels his family isn’t supportive of her or her wishes.

Eilis hasn’t been back to Ireland in twenty years, but feeling the need to distance herself from Tony and his family, decides to visit her mother who will soon turn eighty, with her children to join her later. As the narrative progresses, this time we follow Eilis as she revisits her hometown and those she had left behind when she chose to return to Tony all those years ago. Conflicted over her feelings for Tony, her responsibilities to children and the future she desires for herself, she is compelled to take stock of her life and reflect on her regrets and the consequences of her life choices. Unprepared for the onslaught of emotions and complexities that arise when confronted with her past, she finds herself once again at a crossroads in life.

Long Island by Colm Tóibín is an exquisitely penned novel that had me hooked until the very last page. The narrative is shared from the perspectives of Elish and two other characters from her past in Ireland- her best friend Nancy and Jim Farrell with whom she once shared a romantic relationship, both of whom we had met in the previous book. Compared to the first book this is a more complex and layered novel and the author seamlessly weaves the three perspectives into an immersive, consistently paced narrative that revolves around love, family, secrets, choices and consequences. Not only do we get to follow Eilis’s journey we are also provided insight into how her mother, brothers and friends have fared in the last twenty years and how her presence impacts them in the present day. The strength of this novel lies in its mature and realistic depiction of complex human emotions and relationships with minimal melodrama and concise yet elegant prose – be it the tensions between Eilis and Tony or Eilis and her mother, the complexities that arise between Nancy, Jim and Eilis or how Eilis’s children react to their troubled marriage. Though her children had never shown any interest in their Irish heritage, it was endearing to see them absorb as much as they could in the course of their visit and bond with their grandmother whom they were meeting for the first time and who welcomed them with open arms. I particularly liked how the author addresses the cracks in the relationship between Eilis and her mother. The Eilis we meet in this book is mature and complex. Though I could sympathize with her predicament with Tony and admired her inner strength and resolve, I couldn’t help but question some of her actions in the latter half of the story. The ending leaves us with more than a few unanswered questions and leaves me eager to explore Eilis's motivations further.

I would recommend reading the previous novel before picking up the sequel for a better understanding of Eilis’s journey and the events referenced in this novel.

To be honest, I did not think that Brooklyn needed a sequel, but the ending of Long Island has me eagerly awaiting the next chapter in Eilis’s life.

Many thanks to Scribner for the digital review copy via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. ( )

This is an intense, beautifully written novel that dives deep into the complexities of secrecy, misunderstanding, and love. This book continues the story of Eilis Lacey from Tóibín's famous novel "Brooklyn."

Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers living in a close-knit cul-de-sac on Long Island. Despite being surrounded by Tony's large extended family, Eilis now in her forties with two teenage children, Eilis remains profoundly isolated, her ties to her Irish roots still stronger than those to her new homeland.

The story takes a shocking turn when an Irishman knocks on Eilis's door with surprising news: his wife is pregnant with Tony's child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but instead deposit it on Eilis’s doorstep. This bombshell and Eilis's reaction to it drive the gripping plot, exploring betrayal, resilience, and the search for identity and belonging. Tóibín's writing is full of tension as he delves into Eilis's emotional turmoil and the tough decisions she must make.

This is a gorgeous story of a woman alone in a marriage and the deepest bonds she rekindles on her return to the place and people she left behind, to ways of living and loving she thought she’d lost.

The characters are flawed, unforgettable, human. While I struggled somewhat with the characters' deceitfulness, Tóibín's portrayal of Eilis's inner world makes her a compelling figure. Her journey back to Ireland to reconnect with her past and introduce her children to their heritage adds layers to her character, showcasing her strength and vulnerability. The novel beautifully captures the struggle between the comfort of the familiar and the hope for something better, a recurring theme in Tóibín's work.

A novel about secrets and dreams and the conflict of desire over duty, “Long Island” is rich with yearning and regret. ( )

I loved every word of this book! It's been awhile since I read a book straight through but this one was very hard to put down. I didn't read the first book, Brooklyn. But, I had no problem getting caught up. It seems that there will be a third book as well and I can't wait! Ellis Lacey is Irish married to Tony Fiorelli who is from a large Italianfamily. They live on a cul-de-sac with his parents and brothers' families surrounding them. The story takes place in 1976 with Eilis now in her forties with two teenage children. When an Irishman turns up on her doorstep bringing unpleasant news, Eilish refuses to be a part of the situation and goes back to Ireland for her mother's 80th birthday. Don't miss this book, it's everything I love in a book! ( )

If you have not read Brooklyn, the first book in the Eilis Lacey series, do that before you embark upon this next book in the series. (It may be sufficient to watch the beautiful film version of that book.) Given the ending of this one, at least one more book is MANDATORY and lord do I have a love/hate relationship with cliffhangers!

Long Island picks up about 20 years after the end of Brooklyn. Eilis and Tony have moved, with the rest of Tony's family, to neighboring houses in Lindenhurst, Long Island. Tony's family's plumbing business is a success. Eilis and Tony have raised two children, Rosella and Larry. Everyone is living a placid suburban life amongst a sea of family members who are up in each other's business all the time. I am going to avoid spoilers in this review, but I need to cover something that happens in the opening pages which sets up the rest of the story. If you don't want to know, stop reading now.

Tony has done some plumbing in a local home and it appears he and the lady of the house cleared each other's pipes. Long story short, she is pregnant and her husband has said he will not raise the baby and will deliver it to Eilis and Tony's doorstep upon its birth. Eilis had put her foot down and said she is not raising another woman's child and if any family member takes in the baby she is leaving. Having reached a standoff Eilis leaves Tony to decide what he is going to to and runs off to her mother's home in Enniscorthy (County Wexford I believe) after having been absent for 20 years. Those who read Brooklyn will recall that last time Eilis ran off to Enniscorthy immediately after marrying Tony she had a romantic relationship with Jim Farrell. She gadded about town with Jim and another couple. For readers who read Brooklyn the fact that Eilis is living in Long Island with Tony is, I guess, a spoiler regarding the outcome of her relationship with Jim. So here we are, years later. Jim has never married and runs the family pub, and has never fully gotten over Eilis. Her return presents many complications in his life. I will not get into that because it is the heart of this story. Eilis needs to figure out the rest of her life, and her choices will impact many people in Ireland and America.

I don't want to say more, but the story is beautiful and enveloping. It is a quiet story, as we expect from Toibin, but not as quiet as the other books I have read by him. Those books were fully character studies, but this leans more into plot. Also, in this book we have three POV characters though Toibin usually focuses on one character. In Long Island seeing things only from Eilis's perspective would not have worked. Wed need to see things from the other perspectives to fully understand the stakes in Eilis's decisions. Also, the other main characters, Jim and Nancy (Eilis' former BFF and also half of the other couple who Jim and Eilis hung out with in the Ireland-set portions of Brooklyn) are really great characters. I loved spending time with both. They manage to be very steady but still full of surprises.

This is great storytelling. If you want to take up residence in an Irish village for a little while this is a great choice. (All of Toibin's books that I have read are great choices for this.) Already looking forward to book 3. I just hope it comes faster than this since 15 years have elapsed since Brooklyn came out.

I listened this, and Jessie Buckley's narration was great except when she was talking like the Long Island Italians, who all sounded the same regardless of age, education, or gender -- and also that is not at all how LI Italian people sound. Luckily that was a tiny fraction of the narration after the first half hour. ( )