Oprah Winfrey’s 105th Book Club selection is Long Island by the Irish novelist Colm Tóibín, who delivered the eighth annual Hassett Reading at Canisius in 2011.
Long Island is a kind of sequel to Tóibín’s bestselling and award-winning Brooklyn, telling the story of Eilis Lacey, an Irish immigrant, now in the 1970s, living with her husband and two teenaged children on Long Island.
“I had so many mixed emotions reading this novel,” Winfrey said in a statement. “I was captivated. Tóibín builds the story around a woman whose life changes seemingly overnight…It opens the door to her own secrets, grappling with choices she made long ago, urging her to break free from the silences she built around her life. A wonderful page-turner to start your summer reading.”
Colm Tóibín is the author of 11 novels including The Master, The Testament of Mary, and Nora Webster. In 2022 the Arts Council of Ireland appointed him Laureate for Irish Fiction 2022-2024.
The Hassett Family Reading brings Irish and Irish-American writers to Canisius to read from their work and to share their insights into writing and literature with students and members of our community. In addition to Tóibín, previous Hassett readers include Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Emma Donoghue, Anne Enright, Theo Dorgan, Paula Meehan, Belinda McKeon, and Marina Carr.
Submitted by: Mick Cochrane, English
