I’ve just finished reading Long Island by Colm Toibin, which is the sequel to Brooklyn. We meet Eilis Lacey in Brooklyn, when she is a young woman who leaves her home in Ireland for a chance at a new life in America, specifically in New York. She finds work, friends, love, and a new world that has little in common with the life she left behind. In Long Island, we see Eilis again, twentyish years into the future where she has teen aged children, a home on Long Island, and a family of Italian in-laws. And one other thing, a baby that is the result of an affair between her husband and one of his customers. Eilis returns to Ireland, finds her home very much the same as when she had left it, including her former love-interest. Toibin weaves an intricate tale of character and consequences. This is not an action-packed book, but rather a study in making decisions and dealing with consequences. Eilis, her American husband Tony, her childhood friend, her first love, her mother, all make decisions that have meaningful and sometimes disastrous consequences. Readers watch Eilis throughout the novel, wondering what she will decide to do, and her lack of decision at times, is even worse. A thought-provoking, character-driven story, Long Island is a great read; I liked it better than the first (Brooklyn).