What readers think of Long Island, plus links to write your own review.

4.5?s
Long Island is the second book in the Eilis Lacey series by award-winning Irish author, Colm Toibin. The audio version is narrated by Jessie Buckley. When an Irishman turns up on Eilis Fiorello’s cul-de-sac doorstep in Lindenhurst, Long Island to tell her he won’t be raising the Italian plumber’s brat his wife is carrying, she is shocked to the core. Her reaction to the idea of this man leaving Tony’s baby on her doorstep doesn’t elicit sympathy from her tight-knit in-laws, and going back to Ireland for her mother’s eightieth birthday acts as a hastily-arranged break from their stifling disapproval.

Now widowed five years, Eilis’s best friend Nancy Sheridan runs a chipper in Enniscorthy, and is carrying on a secret affair with publican, Jim Farrell, the man Eilis left behind without a word, almost twenty-five years earlier, to return to America. Her eldest daughter is soon to marry, and she and Jim will delay their own announcement so as not to draw attention away from the younger couple. When Eilis turns up in Enniscorthy, of course Nancy invites her to the wedding.

In her mother’s house, where not a thing has changed in the two decades plus she has been gone, Eilis is dismayed to find her mother irritable, unappreciative of any modernisation that Eilis attempts, and uninterested in her life in America. Eilis wonders what sort of reception her teenaged daughter and son are in for when they arrive. She seeks refuge from the continuous criticism in her brother’s cottage at Cush and, walking the beach, encounters Jim.


Toibin uses three narrative voices to tell the story: Eilis, Jim and Nancy, and each face unenviable dilemmas. The Fiorellos are outwardly gregarious and inclusive, but when a situation tests them, they close ranks, loyalties become apparent, and Eilis finds herself excluded and unsupported. Long-time bachelor Jim and widowed Nancy are both lonely, and the match seems very suitable, until the woman Jim has loved since he first saw her turns up again. Secrets are kept, untruths are told, there are, of course, consequences, and some surprising turns as events play out.

Of two wealthy brothers in the tale, one hints at a potentially independent future where Eilis might have what she truly wants, but readers may find the ambiguity of the ending, the lack of clear resolution, frustrating. While this can stand alone, there are major spoilers for the first book. There’s plenty of scope for a further novel with this cast, although it’s to be hoped that Toibin doesn’t make the reader wait another fifteen years for it. Filled with gorgeous prose, this is a moving and thought-provoking read.

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.