BROOKLYN

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin - This book was so good that I've read it in a burst of passion over the last three days. It's about an Irish girl named Eilis (I've been pronouncing it I-lis with a long I at the beginning and short i for the second syllable). There are no jobs in her small town, and she gets the opportunity to travel to America to work so that she can send money home to her mother and sister. She goes to Brooklyn, lives in a small boarding house run by an Irish woman, and works at a small department store. It takes place after World War II in the late 1940s. This is a charming story, about Eilis' life as a single woman alone on her own across an ocean. The story develops into a love story, and the last chapter absolutely gripped me as Eilis had to make an impactful decision that would affect the rest of her life. Not only did I love the cover art, but there was a small blurb on the cover "Twice Shortlisted for the Booker Prize". I love the Booker Prize books.