Long Island, by Colm Toibin

When an old flame comes back to town, a spurned lover can’t decide what he wants, or what is best. 

​Eilis Lacey moved from Ireland to Long Island, New York in the 1950s and secretly married an Italian American, Tony Fiorello. It’s 1976 and she now has two teenage children, Larry and Rosella. One day a complete stranger - an aggressive Irishman - knocks on her door and tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child, and that he intends to dump the baby on her doorstep when it is born. The news knocks Eilis for six, but worse is to come. Her mother-in-law, Francesca, concocts a plan to take care of the baby herself. Eilis doesn’t want the baby anywhere near her family. 

Stressed and not knowing what to do, she travels alone to her hometown of Enniscorthy in Ireland, ostensibly to celebrate her mother’s 80th birthday. An old flame, Jim Farrell, is running the local pub. The two had originally intended to marry, but Eilis ran out on him, starting a new life in America. Jim never married, but has now started a clandestine relationship with Nancy Sheridan, an old friend of Eilis’s. They are planning their own marriage, but carefully timing the announcement. When Eilis turns up in Enniscorthy, Jim’s is plunged back into the emotional turmoil of some two decades ago, when he was abandoned. He meets up with Eilis, which only opens old wounds; he also entertains naive hopes. Could he start a new life with Eilis in America, or is this mad, wishful thinking? And what of Nancy, who has invested so much in her relationship with Jim?

Samuel Johnson, the great English essayist and lexicographer, once wrote that “Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.” This piece of wit goes some way to explaining the themes of Long Island. Jim is hopelessly intoxicated with the possibility of a rejuvenated affair with Eilis, and he knows it is seriously upending his judgment. But still he ploughs into danger. The sensible path, staying with the practical and stable Nancy, seems like a let down when compared to Eilis, who represents a youthful passion that can maybe be recaptured.

Colm Toibin perfectly describes a slow moving trainwreck as Jim gets sucked further and further into this romantic delusion. A sense of suspense builds as it becomes obvious that none of what his characters are planning can possibly come to good. There are some humorous moments. The portrait of the prickly yet crafty Mrs Lacey, Eilis’s mother, is a delight. And the descriptions of Nancy’s business, a fish and chip shop which is subject to multiple complaints because of the smell, are wonderful for their relentless dinginess. The lives of Enniscorthy are often pathetic and small, but are nonetheless filled with warmth and humanity. 

There are some uneven notes, however. The novel doesn’t really resolve the plot involving the unwanted child and the family dynamics of the Italian family back in Long Island. The trauma this has caused for Eilis is pretty much left up in the air. And Nancy’s revenge on Jim perhaps stretches credulity a bit far. Having said that, this is a story I thoroughly enjoyed, with  characters whom I became totally involved with. 

Long Island, by Colm Toibin. Published by Picador. $34.99

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