Colm T\u00f3ib\u00edn\u2019s literary conversation with the world explores a number of significant themes: the nature of Irish society, living in exile, the legacy of Catholicism, the process of creativity, and the preservation of personal identity, especially when confronted by loss.<\/p>\n
The newest of T\u00f3ib\u00edn\u2019s eleven novels is\u00a0Long Island<\/em>. A\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0bestseller, the book was chosen for\u00a0Oprah\u2019s Book Club<\/a>, and received star reviews from\u00a0Kirkus<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0Publishers Weekly<\/em><\/a>, and\u00a0Booklist<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>In their rave review the\u00a0Star Tribune\u00a0<\/em>called the novel\u00a0<\/em>\u201ca\u00a0wonder, rich with yearning and regret.\u201d Long Island<\/em>\u00a0continues the story of Eilis Lacey, first introduced in his acclaimed novel\u00a0Brooklyn<\/em>.<\/p>\n An international bestseller,\u00a0Brooklyn<\/em>\u00a0is the unforgettable story about a young Irish immigrant in the 1950s and the complications surrounding love and family she encounters.\u00a0Brooklyn<\/em>\u00a0was given the Costa Novel Award,\u00a0<\/em>while\u00a0The Observer<\/em>\u00a0named it one of \u201cThe 10 best historical novels\u201d. In 2019, the book was ranked 51st on\u00a0The Guardian\u2019<\/em>s list of the 100 best books of the 21st century. In 2015, T\u00f3ib\u00edn\u2019s celebrated novel was turned into a\u00a0film starring Saoirse Ronan which garnered four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.<\/p>\n T\u00f3ib\u00edn is also the author of\u00a0The Heather Blazing,<\/em>\u00a0Nora Webster<\/em>,\u00a0House of Names<\/em>, and\u00a0The Blackwater Lightship<\/em>. The latter was shortlisted for the IMPAC Dublin Prize and the Booker Prize, and later made into a film starring Angela Lansbury.\u00a0A standalone edition of his short story\u00a0A Long Winter<\/em>\u00a0from his short story collection\u00a0Mothers and Sons<\/em>\u00a0will be published by Scribner on December 2, 2025.<\/p>\n His fifth novel,\u00a0The Master<\/em>, is a fictional account of the inner life of the American writer Henry James. It\u00a0<\/em>was awarded the International Dublin Literary Award,\u00a0Los Angeles Times<\/em>\u00a0Book Prize for Fiction, Stonewall Book Award, and Lambda Literary Award. The\u00a0New Yorker<\/em>\u00a0noted the novel\u2019s portrait of a creative mind at work struck other writers as uncanny, while Cynthia Ozick praised T\u00f3ib\u00edn\u2019s \u201cwriter\u2019s wizardry.\u201d T\u00f3ib\u00edn\u2019s devotion to James led him to author\u00a0All A Novelist Needs: Colm T\u00f3ib\u00edn<\/em>\u00a0on Henry James<\/em>, a collection of critical essays.<\/p>\n More recently, T\u00f3ib\u00edn\u2019s longtime interest in the German writer Thomas Mann led him to write\u00a0The Magician<\/em>, a\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0Notable Book which was named the Best Book of the Year by NPR,\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>, and\u00a0Wall Street Journal.<\/em>\u00a0Time<\/em>\u00a0magazine stated, T\u00f3ib\u00edn had crafted \u201ca complex but empathetic portrayal of a writer in a lifelong battle against his innermost desires, his family, and the tumultuous times they endure.\u201d\u00a0The Magician<\/em>\u00a0was given the Rathbones Folio 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