Brooklyn

Colm Tóibín was born on May 30, 1955, in Enniscorthy, County Wexford in Ireland. As the son of a schoolteacher, Tóibín took a great interest in literature and writing from an early age. After completing a degree at University College Dublin, he lived and taught English in Barcelona from 1975 to 1978. After his time in Spain, his writing career took off as he began writing travelogues, and his first novel reflects his passion for travel: “In Tóibín’s first novel, The South (1990), a female protagonist abandons her marriage and young son and embarks on a lifelong journey toward self-discovery” (Serafin, Steven R. “Colm Tóibín.” Britannica). This book shares some thematic interests with that of Brooklyn, in which the protagonist Eilis undergoes a journey of self-realization as she emigrates to America. She finds new confidence and independence in her new life, although she struggles with a split identity when she briefly returns to Ireland. Tóibín’s own experiences are reflected in the setting of Brooklyn as well, as Eilis comes from the same town he was born and raised in, Enniscorthy. Brooklyn is Tóibín’s most critically acclaimed novel, adapted for the screen in 2015 with a screenplay by Nick Hornby.