Synopsis
The instant Sunday Times besteller
'The work of a writer who has once again demonstrated complete command of his craft' - The Irish Times
'Short stories to astonish and delight' Financial Times
'Tales of quiet power' The Guardian
In The News from Dublin, a beautiful collection of short stories from the bestselling author of Brooklyn and Long Island, Colm Tóibín delves into the days and nights of those living far from home: lives of great longing, at a great distance from past lives and past selves.
A woman in Galway hears of the death of her son in the First World War. An Irishman seeks anonymity in Barcelona, haunted by crimes he has committed. A man goes to Dublin from Enniscorthy to implore the Minister for Health for a special favour. A young woman is pregnant during the Spanish Civil War. An undocumented worker finds himself living an illegal life and must leave San Francisco, and his child, after thirty years in America. Three sisters who have been living in Argentina decide to return to Catalonia.
'Tóibín is the consummate cartographer of the private self, summoning with restrained acuity (and a delicious streak of sly humour) the thoughts his characters struggle to find words for' – Clare Clark, Guardian
Details
26 March 2026
9781035030736Reviews
Readers who have enjoyed Tóibín’s novels will find much to admire in this collection, especially in those stories that are rooted in these imagined and half-submerged pasts. It’s the drama of what isn’t said, what doesn’t occur – but what might
After this, I’m going to have to read every damn thing he’s ever written. He really is that good
Lives lived far from home unfold with Tóibín’s trademark spare, piercing prose. As in his bestsellers such as Brooklyn and Long Island, this collection traces longing, exile and the ache of unfinished lives
Grief, betrayal and moral complications are explored across nine tales of quiet power that take us from Argentina to County Wexford
