Brooklyn is a novel about a working-class girl from Ireland who emigrates to New York to find work in the 1950s.    A priest sponsors her, supporting her travel across the ocean, finding a place to stay in a women’s boarding house, and securing a position in a retail store in Brooklyn.   We are introduced to Eilis Lacey, a clever and industrious young woman who goes from a rural, quiet Irish village to New York City.   She has to deal with cultural changes, but also has to leave her family behind, and make a new life for herself.    The story follows her progress, her mistakes, her sense of loss of family, and the people she meets and befriends.    It is a coming-of-age novel, with few dramatic elements, a journal of a character we care about and choose to follow.    The author has given us a quiet, gentle novel with a touching story, so different from all the action thrillers, crime stories, and other genres for the masses.

A recommended book – 4.5/5 stars.