Refreshingly authentic . . . Eilis is so vivid it's difficult to believe she did not actually exist
Financial Times
Full of sly fun, lovely comic observation and an almost tangible pleasure in storytelling
Observer
Tremendously moving and powerful
New Statesman
A lovely, thoughtful book ... alive with authentic detail, moved along by the ripples of affection and doubt that shape any life: a novel that offers the reader serious pleasure
Daily Telegraph
Remarkable freshness and immediacy ... with a lovely comedic lightness
Daily Mail
Not a sentence or a thought out of place. It takes over as his finest ficiton to date
Irish Times
No book this year gave me greater pleasure
Nell Freudenberger
Financial Times
A beautifully crafted work that transformed ordinary lives into something extraordinary
Daily Telegraph, Books of the Year
Brooklyn moved me more than any other book this year
Nicholas Hytner
Observer, Books of the Year
Suffused with humane depth, funny, affecting, deftly plotted ... a novel of magnificent accomplishment
Peter Kemp
Sunday Times, Novel of the Year
A work of such skill, understatement and sly jewelled merriment could haunt your life
Ali Smith
TLS, Books of the Year
The most compelling and moving portrait of a young woman I have read in a long time
Zoe Heller
Guardian, Books of the Year
With this elating and humane novel, Colm Toibin has produced a masterwork
Sunday Times