Brooklyn, Paperback/Colm Toibin

As heard on BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime, this sold over 36,000 copies in its first edition alone, and was a number one bestseller in Ireland for 5 weeks. In the early 1950s, Ellis Lacey leaves Ireland for a new life in New York, leaving her family for the first time. Settling into her new life, she receives devastating news that takes her back to Ireland, where she faces a terrible dilemma.