Colm Tóibín - Brooklyn

Colm Tóibín discusses his best-selling novel Brooklyn with James Naughtie and a group of invited readers.

Brooklyn follows the fortunes of a young Irish woman Eilis Lacey as she leaves home to make a new life in 1950s New York. Arriving in a crowded lodging house in Brooklyn, Eilis can only be reminded of what she has sacrificed and left behind. Just as her homesickness abates and she takes tentative steps towards friendship, and perhaps something more, Eilis receives news which sends her back to Ireland where she will be confronted by a terrible dilemma.

In Bookclub Colm Tóibín talks about the ongoing emigration from Ireland, especially at times of economic downturn and how Irish emigrants view home; and he notes how the tides have turned with the country receiving new immigrants from the eastern countries of the European Union in recent years.

Brooklyn was nominated for the Man Booker Prize and won the Costa Novel Prize in 2009.

This edition continues a summer of editions celebrating Bookclub's 20th anniversary.

Presenter : James Naughtie
Interviewed guest : Colm Tóibín
Producer : Dymphna Flynn

August's Bookclub choice : The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee (2014).