It is no secret that some of the best motion pictures are based on literary masterpieces. Such is the case with Brooklyn (2015), which generated a lot of buzz at the time of its release. What many may not know, however, is that behind the film’s plot lies an award-winning novel written by the Irish author Colm Tóibín.

Alongside Oppenheimer (2023) and Interstellar (2014), Brooklyn has been on my list of favorites ever since I first watched it. I remember the thrill it gave me as I tried to imagine the gravity of the situation Eilis, the main character, found herself in—having to choose between two worlds to which she felt she belonged. I hoped I would never be faced with such a choice.

Eilis’ story is both meaningful and representative, as it gives voice to the unspoken struggles of many who had no choice but to leave everything behind in search of better opportunities across the Atlantic.

In 1950s Brooklyn, Eilis Lacey is an Irish immigrant stepping onto American soil for the first time. Having just left her mother’s comfortable home in Enniscorthy, in southeast Ireland, the young woman is persuaded by her family that she must build a new life in New York.

In New York, Eilis lives with other Irish girls in a boarding house run by the strict Mrs. Kehoe. Shortly after her arrival, she secures employment at Bartocci’s department store, but struggles to adjust to her new environment and, understandably, experiences homesickness.

An unforeseen event in her family disrupts Eilis’ life in Brooklyn, and she is compelled to return to her homeland, Ireland. There, she is confronted with a difficult decision—whether to stay or to leave once again.

“It made her feel strangely as though she were two people, one who had battled against two cold winters and many hard days in Brooklyn and fallen in love there, and the other who was her mother’s daughter, the Eilis whom everyone knew, or thought they knew.”

Image credits: Brandon Nickerson