Elegant and controlled, Brooklyn is the novel that broke my heart this year" David Vann, Observer, Books of the Year.It stood out for its ability to use surface simplicity to mask (for a time) vast depths of emotional and psychological complexity' John Lanchester, Guardian.lovely, thoughtful book.., alive with authentic detail, moved along by the ripples of affection and doubt that shape any life: a novel that offers the reader serious pleasure.

It is Ireland in the 1950s and for Ellis Lacey, as for so many young Irish girls, opportunities are scarce. So when her sister arranges for her to emigrate to New York,Eilis knows she must go, leaving behind her family and home for the first time.

Arriving in a crowded lodging house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what she has sacrificed. She is far from home - and homesick. Then, just as she takes tentative steps towards friendship, and perhaps something more,Eilis receives news which sends her back to Ireland.There she will be confronted by a terrible dilemma a devastating choice between duty and one great love.