Prime member offer
3 months free trial
£0.00
  • Get 3 months of Audible membership free
  • Includes 1 audiobook of your choice each month + unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks and podcasts.
  • After 3 months Audible is £7.99 /month.
  • Renews automatically. Cancel anytime. Terms apply.
Learn more about membership
Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company
List Price: £12.99
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice.
Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

Long Island Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Colm Tóibín (Author), Jessie Buckley (Narrator), Picador (Publisher)
See all formats and editions

Read by Olivier Award winner and Oscar nominee, Jessie Buckley, and featuring an exclusive audio Q&A.

'Heartbreak, wistfulness, cracking dialogue . . . This is Tóibín at his best' The Times
'A masterful novel full of longing and regret… Intensely moving and yet full of restraint' Douglas Stuart

OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK

Long Island is Colm Tóibín’s masterpiece: an exquisite, exhilarating novel that asks whether it is possible to truly return to the past and renew the great love that seemed gone forever.

A man with an Irish accent knocks on Eilis Fiorello’s door on Long Island and in that moment everything changes. Eilis and Tony have built a secure, happy life here since leaving Brooklyn - perhaps a little stifled by the in-laws so close, but twenty years married and with two children looking towards a good future.

And yet this stranger will reveal something that will make Eilis question the life she has created. For the first time in years she suddenly feels very far from home and the revelation will see her turn towards Ireland once again. Back to her mother. Back to the town and the people she had chosen to leave behind. Did she make the wrong choice marrying Tony all those years ago? Is it too late now to take a different path?

The sequel to Colm Tóibín's prize-winning, bestselling novel Brooklyn.

Previous slide of product details
  1. Book 2 of 2
    Eilis Lacey
  2. Listening Length
    9 hours and 28 minutes
  3. Author
    Colm Tóibín
  4. Narrator
    Jessie Buckley
  5. Audible release date
    23 May 2024
  6. Language
    English
  7. Publisher
    Picador
  8. ASIN
    B0BZPQPR1V
  9. Version
    Unabridged
  10. Program Type
    Audiobook
  11. See all details
Next slide of product details

Read & Listen

Switch between reading the Kindle book & listening to the Audible narration with Whispersync for Voice.
Get the Audible audiobook for the reduced price of £9.99 after you buy the Kindle book.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
9,157 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the writing style beautiful, believable, and skillful. They also appreciate the clever development of the characters and locations. Opinions are mixed on the storyline, with some finding it wonderful and others disappointed with the ending. Readers also have mixed feelings about the reading experience, with others finding it great and others disappointing.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more
Writing styleStorylineReading experienceCharacter development
8 customers mention ‘Writing style’8 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style moving, believable, and beautifully written.

"Long Island is beautifully written but the ending is very disappointing...." Read more

"I have to say that I loved this book. It is, of course, well written and the characters are certainly multi-dimensional and human, which makes them..." Read more

"...Perhaps I am undervaluing its literary merit. There is some beautiful writing and you can’t always have a happy ending or even, as in this case, a..." Read more

"It’s just so much Colm Toibin - he’s a great author" Read more

16 customers mention ‘Storyline’7 positive9 negative

Customers are mixed about the storyline. Some find the story wonderful, engaging, and believable. They also say the book is an enjoyable read with laugh-out-loud moments. However, some customers are disappointed in the ending.

"...Really captures village life in rural Ireland.Colm Toibin is a great storyteller.Looking forward to the next instalment." Read more

"...Very very disappointed in the ending and I will be saying goodbye to these characters now." Read more

"...And again the author writes superbly, it's a just simply a great story, with characters that you can really invest in...." Read more

"Quite a good story but a big let down at the end. I presume there will be a sequel...." Read more

10 customers mention ‘Reading experience’6 positive4 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the reading experience of the book. Some find it a great and brilliant read, while others find it disappointing.

"Keeps you engrossed from start to finish. Really captures village life in rural Ireland.Colm Toibin is a great storyteller...." Read more

"I really liked “Brooklyn “ and was excited to read this. But I found it disappointing...." Read more

"...Can’t wait. Great stuff, many thanks, JK" Read more

"No ending?Beyond disappointing for what originally was such a great story...." Read more

8 customers mention ‘Character development’3 positive5 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the character development in the book. Some appreciate the author's skill with words and description of locations, while others say there was not much character development.

"...I presume there will be a sequel. It felt clunky and the characters felt rather unreal - not how I would have imagined them developing after Brooklyn..." Read more

"...It is, of course, well written and the characters are certainly multi-dimensional and human, which makes them frustrating sometimes...." Read more

"...However I did find the character of Eilis quite passive - both in her reaction upon discovering her husband’s infidelity and its aftermath, and in..." Read more

"...The characters seem one-dimensional, they have lost their personalities, their humour, their warmth...." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

George
5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 July 2024
Verified Purchase
Keeps you engrossed from start to finish. Really captures village life in rural Ireland.Colm Toibin is a great storyteller.Looking forward to the next instalment.
Helpful
 Report
Ardgillan
4.0 out of 5 stars Xx
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 May 2024
Verified Purchase
Long Island is beautifully written but the ending is very disappointing.
I love the characters from Brooklyn, and would say either bring them together, divorce, pass away, whatever but dont leave us hanging......
Very very disappointed in the ending and I will be saying goodbye to these characters now.
12 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
MusicLover
5.0 out of 5 stars Still waiting ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2024
Verified Purchase
I have to say that I loved this book. It is, of course, well written and the characters are certainly multi-dimensional and human, which makes them frustrating sometimes. In the minds of the characters we see the reasons for choices made or not made. Of course, I wanted the "happy" ending, if one were possible, but the characters' own deficiencies made that unlikely. Is this to be a trilogy and, if so, will the dilemma ever be resolved?
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Susannah
3.0 out of 5 stars Long Island. unfinished story.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 June 2024
Verified Purchase
Quite a good story but a big let down at the end. I presume there will be a sequel. It felt clunky and the characters felt rather unreal - not how I would have imagined them developing after Brooklyn. Perhaps I am undervaluing its literary merit. There is some beautiful writing and you can’t always have a happy ending or even, as in this case, a definite ending
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Bungle
5.0 out of 5 stars Old Friends
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 May 2024
Verified Purchase
Reading the first few pages, the first page in fact, of Long Island, gave me a strong sense that I was picking up with old friends. It was perfectly believable to me that the twenty years HAD passed and that Tony and Eilis HAD built their house on their chosen plot and had built a home and a family. I was merely catching up with them.

Colm Toibin didn't keep us waiting to understand just what has come between Tony and Eilis. He dealt the blow in the first few pages in a decisive and masterful, no-nonsense and matter-of-fact exchange. There was no drawn-out narrative that merely hinted at a rift. The fissure in their marriage was there for all to see. And thus the scene was set for Eilis to return to Ireland.

Eilis appeared in Enniscorthy, glamourous to the eyes of her family and friends and much changed, whereas their lives (her mother's kitchen!) were constant and unaltered and timeless. And it is against this backdrop of a town, untouched by time or fashion, that the 'unfinished business' between Jim and Eilis plays out.

This was my Bank Holiday reading and it was time well-spent to catch up with old friends and once again, to revel in the warmth of Colm Toibin's familiar and delicate handling of love and disappointment.
12 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
crimefan
4.0 out of 5 stars Should be called Wexford
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 June 2024
Verified Purchase
I really liked “Brooklyn “ and was excited to read this. But I found it disappointing. Most of it is set in Ireland, so the “Long Island “ title is incongruous. I think the behaviour of Tony feels out of char, compared to what we knew of him. Finally…the ending is dreadful!
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Wilma
5.0 out of 5 stars Colm Toibin's Long Island
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 July 2024
Verified Purchase
I couldn't put it down. I enjoyed every page. He has a magical way of expressing how people feel but the characters cannot put their feelings into words so often miss landmark opportunities in their lives. Do hope there is a sequel as dying to know what happens next.
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 July 2024
Verified Purchase
It’s just so much Colm Toibin - he’s a great author
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

switterbug/Betsey Van Horn
5.0 out of 5 stars Better than Brooklyn!
Reviewed in the United States on 21 May 2024
Verified Purchase
Read the previous book, Brooklyn, or see the movie. That will set you up nicely for where this one starts. Brooklyn, the novel, is short, understated—in fact, it wasn’t until the end that I appreciated it fully. But Long Island? Not just the best of the two books, but a deeply felt surprise. I went into this not expecting much; in fact, I thought it would be a strained sequel. Wow, was I ever wrong! Long Island will make my top ten of the year. These characters do not go away when you close the last page. I’m hoping for a trilogy. But I am not going to give even circumspect clues about how Tóibín ends things. That in itself would be a spoiler.

Long Island takes place twenty years post-Brooklyn, sometime in the 1970s now, and Irish-born Eilis has two teenage children with her husband, Italian American born Tony Fiorello. Tony has made a mess of things just recently (all for the reader to discover in the first few pages), and it is practically impossible for Eilis to think peacefully on her own. She is surrounded here in a cul-de-sac by Tony’s family in several of the houses. Everyone in the family knows everyone’s business, it’s just too much for Eilis right now.

Eilis’s mother and a brother are in Ireland, and have never met her children. She resolves to return home for a long visit, stay several weeks (if not months) before her children fly up to accompany her for their first visit. Of course, there’s drama in the gossipy village of Enniscorthy where Eilis grew up, and ghosts from her past that are living, breathing individuals, are ready to haunt or heat up at every turn. Besides her difficult mother, there’s the man she left behind, Jim Farrell. He runs one of the most popular pubs in town. Has never married.

Most of the novel is set in Ireland, as we follow Eilis and her children. The pace is perfect, never ever a dull moment. The prose reads with the alacrity of a gazelle, sprinting freely, yet fully dimensional in details and the authenticity of human dilemma. It’s real, folks! It’s suspenseful and thrilling, and the stakes just get higher and tighter as the pages turn. Oh, those stakes---a few went almost straight through my heart and bled me out.

Don’t worry---there is nothing melodramatic about this novel—that’s just me with my heart in their teeth. It is just as restrained as it needs to be, while also being fulsome and forthright. You never know what will happen next. The riskier the conduct, the more your own heart will pump and panic in equal measure.

What you have and what you left behind rub up against each other, and Eilis is compelled by unfinished business back in Enniscorthy. Broken bonds lay open and exposed, the harm to all the characters gradually revealed. As Eilis appraises her life and considers her options, she fully grasps the urgency to go back to her past in order to secure her future.

I must add my awe at how Tóibín develops characters with such sublime attention to the minute contradictions in human behavior, and how our outward-facing temperament may be highly interpretive. For example, Jim acts like what we know as *the strong silent type.* Is that why he is fiercely selective with his words? Tentative with weighty actions? Guarded about his life? Well, as quiet and restrained as he is, there is more than one way to interpret his personal style and cautious choices. The ending will blow you away, and that’s all I will say about that.

The author effortlessly crafts his tale, and he never intrudes on the action. Tóibín’s cast run the show—they fluently forward the plot with palpable intimacy. And enigma. For all their transparency, the reader won’t easily pierce the inexorable. The author steps out and lets them at it.

Eilis—the entire cast-- continue to carry on in my life. I can’t let them go, they are flawed, unforgettable, human. Eilis especially is inscribed in my personal atlas of eternal literary characters. In the space where truth-in-fiction exists, Eilis Lacey will endure. The story’s spry, subtle, and scintillating style was brilliant. I want another sequel and I rarely say that!

Addendum: Norah Webster makes a cameo appearance. Background color basically. But it made me think about the Lucy Barton/Olive Kitteridge-verse. Tóibín has well established the Eilis Lacy-verse, and I'm a fan of him continuing to explore these nervy characters in both Enniscorthy and Long Island.
37 people found this helpful
 Report
Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars A perfect sequel or a standalone novel
Reviewed in Italy on 2 July 2024
Verified Purchase
I could not ask for more.
A mature Eilis looking back at her past and questioning her future twenty years on.
Report
Raven66
4.0 out of 5 stars A treat ... but
Reviewed in France on 17 June 2024
Verified Purchase
If you enjoyed reading "Brooklyn", you will enjoy reading its sequel. It is like meeting a long lost friend again after 20 years. Eilis is now a mature woman and the reader is eager to know how she is coping in the USA and what the future holds in store for her.
But if you didn't read "Brooklyn", you may not be so enthusiastic. The story is told in the journalistic style characteristic of Colm Toibin who only once deviates from his principle of neutrality concerning the character of Eilis in part 6. The statement "The thought of herself as suddenly altruistic and concerned only with the welfare of others [...] made her smile" clears up all doubts about who Eilis really is. But that, we can accept and even enjoy.
What we could regret however is that the author relies on a few cheap plot tricks and some convenient coincidences to set things in motion. Besides, Colm Toibin once again avoids giving a conclusive resolution to the story. That could mean a sequel to the sequel, and that is good news, ... and that will be a real literary challenge. Looking forward to it!
Report
Linda
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written with credible characters and great story
Reviewed in Australia on 4 July 2024
Verified Purchase
I love all of this author's books.
Report
Robert Pugliese
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Story / Disappointing Ending
Reviewed in the United States on 16 June 2024
Verified Purchase
This is a very good story but I was so disappointed with the ending. There is none! There was no resolution to anything. Not one single issue was resolved. This story screams for a third book to tie up the loose ends and bring closure to all that’s been left undone. One can only hope that the author shares that sentiment.
One person found this helpful
 Report