Book Short
‘Long Island,’ the long-awaited sequel
to ‘Brooklyn,’ by Colm Tóibín
By Stephanie Miller
If you remember Colm Tóibín’s 2009 prize-winning “Brooklyn” – the coming-of-age story of innocent and tender-hearted math-whiz Eilis Lacey’s secret-filled, solo journey from her home in Enniscorthy, Ireland, to Brooklyn, New York – then you will love this sequel, “Long Island, released earlier this year.
Even if you didn’t read the first story, this novel stands on its own. And it’s got just the right mix of love story plus family drama to make it a wonderful early summer read.
Catching Up
When we left Eilis in the first book, she was 19 and just married to Tony Fiorello, an Italian-American home builder in the family business. “Long Island” picks up the story after Tony and his parents and four brothers have moved together to a block of homes on a cul de sac in Lindenhurst. It’s a boisterous extended family that dines together every Sunday and lives so much on top of each other that everyone is in everyone else’s business.
Eilis is in her forties now, with two teenagers. She’s happy enough. She sends photos every month but hasn’t been back to Ireland to see her mother since she returned from the visit that was the denouement of “Brooklyn,” and the deciding factor in her committing to stay with Tony in America.
A Stranger Arrives
One day a stranger comes to her door. He threatens to bring a baby in a few months and deposit it on her doorstep. The baby’s mother is his wife. The father is Tony.
Eilis’s reaction to this shocking news – and the Firoello family’s subsequent response – is the center of this riveting novel. Tóibín weaves a gorgeous narrative about a lonely woman discovering her depths of strength and morality as Eilis tries to navigate the competing bonds of marriage and motherhood, and family loyalty and valuing her own individual worth.
She retreats with her children back to her hometown in Ireland. There she reconnects with her isolated and cantankerous mother and her old friends. The romance she nearly left Tony for all those years ago resurfaces, but this time, she unknowingly is cutting out her childhood best friend.
This is really a story of longing, both urgent and long simmering. Eilis longs for an authentic romantic love, her children’s understanding, and a way of life that she thought was lost. Mrs. Lacey suffers for dignity and family honor. Tony is desperate for forgiveness and connection. Tony’s mother, like all great matriarchs, commands fealty.
Colored by Gorgeous Writing
Tóibín’s melodic writing brings us close to each character’s heart. As the novel runs forward, it left me feeling the kind of breathless, hopeful, unavoidable sense of loss of the sun sinking below brightly hued clouds. Colored by gorgeous writing, Tóibín serves each of his characters with an uncommon portion of human heartbreak.
Micro Shorts
‘The English Teacher,’ by Lily King (MAINE AUTHOR)
After seeing bestselling Maine author Lily King interview Morgan Tally (another great Maine author of “Night of the Living Rez” fame) at Print last month, I was inspired to dive into my bookshelf. I pulled out this treat of a novel from 2005. In it, single mother and English teacher Vida Avery accepts a marriage proposal half-heartedly. She never quite convinces me that she really thought the marriage would ever happen. It does — and her teenaged son has high hopes for a “regular family life.” Of course, you can’t create a family by putting strangers in the same house.
Vida slowly unravels. Meanwhile. her son is forced to see that the woman he always considered indomitable is at risk and he is the one to save her. I love King’s melodic, transcending style. Here, she maps Vida’s journey with that of the heroine of “Tess of the d’Ubervilles” – a novel Vida teaches her middle schoolers. It is both a beautiful coming of age story for both Vida and her son. It is also a tribute to the ongoing lessons classic fiction (even Hardy’s!) can teach us.
‘Granite Harbor,’ by Peter Nichols (MAINE AUTHOR)
A psychotic serial killer is loose in a small harbor town in MidCoast Maine called Granite Harbor, which closely resembles Camden, where best-selling author Peter Nichols lives. The detective, a former novelist, relies on his writing skills to imagine the killer’s motive and predict the next move. As crime fiction, this book is perfect: tightly woven, suspenseful, full of red herrings, with the murderer introduced early on yet well hidden, and a very likable and relatable detective straining against personal and professional pressures.
As a novel, however, this book is amazing. It’s the most literary detective novel I’ve ever read, and for that, it should appeal to every reader who likes strong characters and a great story. Yes, the murderer is inventive and grisly, but it’s not a spooky book. The character development is precise, delightful, and rich in nuance. This book is just as much a tender tale of ordinary hopes and dreams as it is a desperate race to find a heinous killer.
‘Late in the Day,’ by Tessa Hadley
Best friends Christine and Lydia are in their twenties when they meet and marry good friends Alex and Zachary. The four of them share each other’s lives and know each other’s secrets. When generous, grounded Zach suddenly dies, Lydia moves in with Christine and Alex, unspooling old entanglements and exposing weaknesses in the scaffolding of their friendship.
Told as a fast-paced blur of the emotional months following the death interspersed with memories of past encounters and shared history, the novel has an unruly, syncopated rhythm which helps prepare us for the final denouement. Spoiler alert: Their friendship is deeply damaged but not destroyed. The three survivors each dig deep to recover personally and emerge as a resorted group.
