Colm Toibin's "Brooklyn" is a devastating story of love, loss and one woman's terrible choice between duty and personal freedom. 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 Toibin has produced a masterwork". ("Sunday Times"). "The most compelling and moving portrait of a young woman I have read in a long time". (Zoe 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). Colm Toibin was born in Ireland in 1955. He is the author of five other novels, including "Brooklyn", "The Blackwater Lightship" and "The Master", both of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and a collection of stories, "Mothers and Sons".