In 'Long Island,' one woman returns to Ireland after discovering her husband's affair

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

At the beginning of Long Island, an Irish-American woman named Eilis opens the front door of her New York home and is greeted by news of her husband's affair. The other woman is pregnant – and Eilis must decide what to do next. Author Colm Tóibín says this scene convinced him to write the novel, an unplanned sequel to Brooklyn. Long Island picks up 25 years after Brooklyn left off, following Eilis as she returns to the Irish town where she grew up. In today's episode, Tóibín talks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about his decision to write the sequel, his own hometown in Ireland, and his characters' views of what makes someone a foreigner.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. I only just read Column Tobin's great 2009
0:08.0	novel, Brooklyn, about a woman leaving 1950s Ireland to come to the U.S. And in a lot of ways,
0:14.3	that book ends at the most interesting part, right as protagonist Ilish Lacey commits to making America
0:20.6	her permanent home.
0:22.2	Thankfully, Tobin's now written a sequel titled Long Island.
0:25.3	I think you can guess where Ilish moved to.
0:27.6	In this interview with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, Tobin talks about returning to Ilish,
0:32.7	even if he doesn't really like sequels.
0:35.8	That's ahead.
0:37.3	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:42.1	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
0:46.6	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
0:48.7	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
0:52.4	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
0:56.3	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:02.0	Column Tobin's latest novel opens with a heartbreaker of a dilemma. His main character,
1:08.2	Eilish Lacey, opens her front door to a stranger who accuses
1:12.9	Eilish's husband of having an affair with his wife, an affair that has resulted in a pregnancy.
1:19.1	The stranger threatens to leave the baby once it's born on Elish's doorstep.
1:25.0	What would you do?
1:26.4	The novel is titled Long Island, and it follows what Eilish decides doorstep, what would you do? The novel is titled Long Island, and it follows what
1:29.5	Ilish decides to do and not do when this bombshell turns her life upside down. Callum Tobeen, welcome.
	...

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