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I was as drawn to Eilis Lacey Fiorello as I was in Brooklyn when I first met her, even more so, perhaps. I found her more mature and stronger. I found it sad, though, that she’s lonely, 20 years after emigrating from Ireland and still not really feeling a part of her husband’s extended Italian family who live houses away from each other on Long Island. However, she manages to live her life, care for her family and maintain some independence and work as a bookkeeper. That is, until her husband Tony commits a transgression that turns their lives upside down. Sad because she has no one to call. I was impressed with Eilis�� strength, though, as the family plots to take care of things going against Eilis�� wishes as if what is happening doesn’t affect her and if she should have no say . She takes the reins and decides to return home to Ireland to visit her mother after twenty years.

Anyone who has read Brooklyn knows that Eilis is a complex character and that things were complicated when she returned to Ireland back then. As you might suspect, they will again be complicated upon her return. Told not just from Eilis�� point of view, but also from the man she once loved and her best friend, we get an introspective and intimate view of each one filled with uncertainty and emotions that are so realistic . Tóibín also gives us another ending that has me wanting to know what the future holds for Eilis. His alluring writing has me wanting to get to those books of his that I have not yet read . And hopefully a third book about Eilis.

I received a copy of this book from Scribner through NetGalley.