It is Ireland in the early 1950s and for Eilis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce. So when her sister arranges for her to emigrate to New York, Eilis knows she must go, leaving behind her family and her home for the first time.

Arriving in a crowded lodging house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what she has sacrificed. She is far from home – and homesick. And just as she takes tentative steps towards friendship, and perhaps something more, Eilis receives news which sends her back to Ireland. There she will be confronted by a terrible dilemma – a devastating choice between duty and one great love.

With this elating and humane novel, Colm Tóibín has produced a masterwork (Sunday Times )

The most compelling and moving portrait of a young woman I have read in a long time Zoë Heller Guardian, Books of the Year

A work of such skill, understatement and sly jewelled merriment could haunt your life Ali Smith TLS, Books of the Year

Suffused with humane depth, funny, affecting, deftly plotted ... a novel of magnificent accomplishment Peter Kemp Sunday Times, Novel of the Year


A beautifully crafted work that transformed ordinary lives into something extraordinary Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year

No book this year gave me greater pleasure Nell Freudenberger Financial Times

Not a sentence or a thought out of place. It takes over as his finest ficiton to date Irish Times