
Long Island
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Narrated by:
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Jessie Buckley
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By:
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Colm Toibin
About this listen
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK * INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * “Stunning.” —People * “Dazzling yet devastating...Tóibín is simply one of the world’s best living literary writers.” —The Boston Globe * “Momentous and hugely affecting.” —The Wall Street Journal *
From the beloved, critically acclaimed, bestselling author comes a spectacularly moving novel featuring Eilis Lacey, the complex and enigmatic heroine of Brooklyn, Tóibín’s most popular work in twenty years.
Eilis Lacey is Irish, married to Tony Fiorello, a plumber and one of four Italian American brothers, all of whom live in neighboring houses on a cul-de-sac in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with their wives and children and Tony’s parents, a huge extended family. It is the spring of 1976 and Eilis is now forty with two teenage children. Though her ties to Ireland remain stronger than those that hold her to her new land and home, she has not returned in decades.
One day, when Tony is at work, an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name. He tells her that 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. It is what Eilis does—and what she refuses to do—in response to this stunning news that makes Tóibín’s novel so riveting and suspenseful.
Long Island is a gorgeous story “about a woman thrashing against the constraints of fate” (Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air). It is “a wonder, rich with yearning and regret” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis).
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Story
During the winter solstice, on the shortest day and longest night of the year, the ancient burial chamber at Newgrange is empowered. Its mystifying source is a haunting tale told by locals. Professor O’Kelly believes an archaeologist’s job is to make known only what can be proved. He is undeterred by ghost stories, idle speculation, and caution. Much to the chagrin of the living souls in County Meath. As well as those entombed in the sacred darkness of Newgrange itself. They’re determined to protect the secret of the light, guarded for more than 5,000 years.
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Terrible
- By Amazon Customer on 05-17-23
By: Colm Tóibín
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The Master
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Beautiful and profoundly moving, The Master tells the story of Henry James, a man born into one of America’s first intellectual families who leaves his country in the late 19th century to live in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among privileged artists and writers. With stunningly resonant prose, “The Master is unquestionably the work of a first-rate novelist: artful, moving, and very beautiful” (The New York Times Book Review). The emotional intensity of this portrait is riveting.
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What a Terrible Disappointment!
- By Sherry M. Rogers on 08-20-21
By: Colm Toibin
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Brooklyn
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Stine Gyldenkerne
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Irland i 50'erne: Den unge pige Eilis bor sammen med sin mor og søster i en lille by, hvor der er meget langt til resten af verden. Faren er død, og pengene er små. Storesøsteren arbejder hårdt om dagen og spiller golf om aftenen. Her møder Eilis en praest, som er hjemme på besøg fra New York, og som lover at skaffe Eilis et job "over there". Efter en hård overfart til Amerika møder den lidt sky og tilbageholdende pige den nye verden, Brooklyn og New York. I Brooklyn flytter Eilis ind i et pensionat for irske piger og begynder at arbejde bag disken i en paen tøjforretning.
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Russian
- By joanna wilson on 10-25-16
By: Colm Tóibín
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The South
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Terry Donnelly
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1950, Katherine Proctor leaves Ireland for Barcelona, determined to escape her family and become a painter. There she meets Miguel, an anarchist veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and begins to build a life with him. But Katherine cannot escape her past, as Michael Graves, a fellow Irish émigré in Spain, forces her to reexamine all her relationships: to her lover, her art, and the homeland she only thought she knew. The South is a novel of classic themes - of art and exile, and of the seemingly irreconcilable yearnings for love and freedom - to which Colm Tóibín brings a new, passionate sensitivity.
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Waste of time
- By K on 10-11-19
By: Colm Toibin
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Alice James
- A Biography
- By: Jean Strouse, Colm Toibin - foreword
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Alice James is perhaps best known as the sister of Henry James, the novelist, and William James, "the father of American psychology." Few were familiar with Alice's own life—until Jean Strouse's Alice James. This illuminating, insightful biography takes us into the hidden life of this extraordinary woman.
By: Jean Strouse, and others
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On James Baldwin
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Gary Furlong
- Length: 3 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin just after turning eighteen. He had completed his first year at an Irish university and was struggling to free himself from a religious upbringing. Inspired by the novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, Tóibín found a writer who would be a lifelong companion and exemplar.
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Favorite living writer speaking of favorite all time writer
- By JAH on 05-30-25
By: Colm Toibin
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House of Names
- By: Colm Tóibín
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson, Charlie Anson, Pippa Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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"I have been acquainted with the smell of death." So begins Clytemnestra's tale of her own life in ancient Mycenae, the legendary Greek city from which her husband, King Agamemnon, left when he set sail with his army for Troy. Clytemnestra rules Mycenae now, along with her new lover, Aegisthus, and together they plot the bloody murder of Agamemnon on the day of his return after nine years at war.
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Power. Control. Restraint.
- By David on 06-27-17
By: Colm Tóibín
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Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know
- By: Colm Toibin
- Narrated by: Colm Toibin
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Elegant, profound, and riveting, Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know illuminates not only the complex relationships between three of the greatest writers in the English language and their fathers, but also illustrates the surprising ways these men surface in their work. Through these stories of fathers and sons, Tóibín recounts the resistance to English cultural domination, the birth of modern Irish cultural identity, and the extraordinary contributions of these complex and masterful authors.
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Eminently re-readable
- By Ellen-A on 01-02-19
By: Colm Toibin
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Long Island Compromise
- A Novel
- By: Taffy Brodesser-Akner
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Taffy Brodesser-Akner
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalized, and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife and kids less than a week later, only slightly the worse, and the family moves on with their lives, resuming their prized places in the saga of the American dream, comforted in the realization that though their money may have been what endangered them, it is also what assured them their safety.
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We need more from Taffy Brodesser-Akner!
- By Ximena Enriquez on 08-31-24
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Long Island (Catalan edition)
- By: Colm Toibín
- Narrated by: Marta Begué
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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En un nou exercici de narrativa magistral de Colm Tóibín, ens reunim amb Eilis Lacey, l’heroïna dels seu gran èxit de vendes Brooklyn. Vint anys després dels fets, als anys setanta, Eilis està vivint amb el seu marit, Tony Fiorello, i els seus fills en una casa a Long Island, massa a prop dels seus sogres. Una notícia impactant impulsa Eilis de tornada a Irlanda, a un món que ella creia que feia molt de temps que havia deixat enrere i maneres de viure, i estimar, que creia haver perdut per sempre.
By: Colm Toibín
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Spill Simmer Falter Wither
- By: Sara Baume
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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A debut novel already praised as "unbearably poignant and beautifully told" (Eimear McBride), this captivating story follows - over the course of four seasons - a misfit man who adopts a misfit dog. It is springtime, and two outcasts - a man ignored, even shunned by his village, and the one-eyed dog he takes into his quiet, tightly shuttered life - find each other, by accident or fate, and forge an unlikely connection. As their friendship grows, their small seaside town suddenly takes note of them.
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Simply Beautiful
- By Sara on 03-14-16
By: Sara Baume
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Dirty Laundry
- A Novel
- By: Disha Bose
- Narrated by: Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Ciara Dunphy has it all—a loving husband, well-behaved children, and a beautiful home. Her circle of friends in their small Irish village go to her for tips about mothering, style, and influencer success—a picture-perfect life is easy money on Instagram. But behind the filters, reality is less polished. Enter Mishti Guha: Ciara’s best friend. Ciara welcomed Mishti into her inner circle for being...unlike the other mothers in the group. Discontent in a marriage arranged in Calcutta, Mishti raises her daughter in a country that is too cold, among children who look nothing like her.
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Boring
- By Tiffany R. on 06-19-23
By: Disha Bose
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He Gets That from Me
- By: Jacqueline Friedland
- Narrated by: Devon Sorvari
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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As a young mother with a toddler and a live-in boyfriend, Maggie Fisher's job at a checkout counter in downtown Phoenix doesn't afford her much financial flexibility. She dreams of going to college and becoming a teacher, options she squandered when she fled her family home as a teenager. When Maggie stumbles onto an ad offering thousands of dollars to women who are willing to gestate other people's babies, she at first finds the concept laughable. Before long, however, she's been seduced by all the ways the extra money could improve her life.
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Good story
- By Gerald S. Kaufman on 02-02-24
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The Arrivals
- A Novel
- By: Meg Mitchell Moore
- Narrated by: Leslie Bellair
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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First, their daughter Lillian arrives, with her two children in tow, to escape her crumbling marriage. Next, their son Stephen and his pregnant wife Jane show up for a weekend visit, which extends indefinitely when Jane ends up on bed rest. When their youngest daughter Rachel appears, fleeing her difficult life in New York, Ginny and William find themselves consumed again by the chaos of parenthood - only this time around, their children are facing adult problems.
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Entertainment With Substance
- By Pamela Harvey on 07-26-12
Tony would have stood up for his wife to his family, and though no fault of the baby, they could have found a home other than his parents. To me, none of this was believable or in my opinion what would have happened to a strong marriage.
I hated to see a story end just so we have to wait for another book.
How weak everyone was!!
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Pitch perfect!
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Great book struggled with one character
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Cliffhanger…
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I never read Brooklyn, Colm Toibin's first novel in this short 2-book series, but the movie was so beautifully realized, directed, and acted, that when I heard a sequel to Eilis Lacey's life -- 20 years later -- was published, I couldn't wait to read it. I was not disappointed.
Right from the start, her marriage with husband Tony is in jeopardy and Eilis is strong in her opinion about how to handle it. When she finds resistance from Tony and his family -- all of whom live in the same cul-de-sac -- she decides to fly home to Ireland, ostensibly to help her mother celebrate her upcoming 80th birthday but mostly to get a break from Tony and his family, who have ideas of their own about how to handle the dramatic moment that has surrounded Eilis, her husband, and their two children.
The author treats this trauma with care and sensitivity, never presenting a right or wrong but leaving that up to the reader.
A real treat for me was listening to the Audible version. The narrator, Jessie Buckley, is superb, rendering both Irish and New York accents with perfection.
I loved this book and will read/listen to it again.
An Excellent Story by an Excellent Storyteller
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No resolution
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Great story telling
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colm tuibin long Island
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More of the story was in Ireland rather than on Long Island though. However I hated the ending...
Good story
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Unfinished work
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