Brooklyn by Colm Toibin has a very simple storyline. Eilis is the youngest daughter of a widow living in 1950's Cork. Work is hard to come by and the family is supported by Eilis's older sister Rose. So when a job opportunity comes up Eilis sets of to Brooklyn. The story has three phases the build up to leaving home, then adapting to life in NY and then the return home when tragedy strikes.
The book has has many themes family, hardship, loneliness, love and class. But this isn't a book that's held together by it's storyline or even it's themes but by it's characters. The characters are beautifully drawn, real people you can identify with and care about, especially Eilis.
Colm Toibin is an author that I've never got around to reading before. From the blurb I expected a worthy, slow and rather dull book, but it was the opposite. I was engaged from the first chapter and it never felt like a chore.
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