Brooklyn布魯克林 英文原版簡(jiǎn)介，目錄書(shū)摘

Eilis Lacey is a young woman who is unable to find work in 1950s Ireland. Her older sister Rose organizes a meeting with Father Flood visiting from New York. He tells Eilis of the wonderful opportunities awaiting her with very good employment prospects. Because of this she emigrates to New York and takes up a job in a department store and undertakes night classes in book-keeping. Her initial experiences in a boring job and living in a repressive boarding house, run by the strict Madge Kehoe, make her have grave doubts about her decision. Letters from Rose and her brother are initially upsetting but soon she begins to settle into a routine. Eilis meets and falls in love with a young Italian plumber called Tony at the local Friday night dances organized by Father Flood. This leads to her first sexual encounter and some social consequences as they are overheard by Mrs Kehoe. She qualifies easily from her night school course. Her relationship evolves further and Tony proposes marriage and allows Eilis to meet his family. One day as she is working in Brooklyn she receives a visit from Father Flood informing her that Rose has died in her sleep from a pre-existing heart condition. She has to return to Ireland to mourn and marries Tony secretly before she leaves. In Ireland she falls back into the village society easily and starts a brief relationship with Jim Farrell, a local business man, to whom she had been attracted before emigrating. Her mother is desperate for her to settle back in Ireland and marry Jim. Eilis does not confide in her family or friends about her marriage. Eilis procrastinates about a return to her new life by extending her stay and finding a temporary job. She saves Tony's letters unopened thinking at times that she no longer loves him. Eventually a local busy body, Miss Kelly, tells Eilis she knows her secret because Madge Kehoe is her cousin and somehow the story is out in New York. This is the turning point for Eilis and she immediately books her return passage, tells her mother the whole truth and posts a farewell note to Jim as she leaves town by taxi for the docks.

     1950年代，在愛(ài)爾蘭東南部的小鎮上是很難找到工作的。小說(shuō)主人公Eilis當然也難以拒絕來(lái)自美國的工作要約，她前往布魯克林開(kāi)始了新生活。盡管她年輕、思鄉又孤獨，但她依舊很快融入了新生活的節奏中——白天在大型百貨公司收銀，晚上在布魯克林 大學(xué)上夜校，周末晚上去牧區本堂跳舞，她逐漸找到了另一種幸福感。但壞消息傳來(lái)，召喚她回愛(ài)爾蘭；于是她陷入了兩難：在彼岸的愛(ài)和幸福與故鄉的承諾間，該如何取舍。

Colm Tóibín  is a multi-award-winning Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.

Tóibín is Leonard Milberg Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University in New Jersey and is to succeed Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester. He is regarded by critics as having excelled at the many literary forms he has experimented with. Tóibín was hailed as a champion of minorities as he collected the 2011 Irish PEN Award. In 2011, he was named one of "Britain's top 300 intellectuals" by The Observer, despite being Irish.

    1955年出生，是當今文壇非常重要的一位愛(ài)爾蘭作家。他的創(chuàng )作涵蓋小說(shuō)、非虛構類(lèi)作品、文學(xué)評論以及劇作，曾在斯坦福、普林斯頓、紐約等多所大學(xué)教授英語(yǔ)文學(xué)與創(chuàng )意寫(xiě)作。自1990年出版第一本小說(shuō)《南方》以來(lái)，他一共創(chuàng )作了六部長(cháng)篇和一部短篇小說(shuō)集。其中，《大師》榮獲2006年IMPAC都柏林文學(xué)獎，《大師》和《黑水燈塔船》兩度入圍布克獎最后決選名單，新作《布魯克林》則入圍今年布克獎的初選名單。