Synopses & Reviews
From one of contemporary literature’s bestselling, critically acclaimed, and beloved authors: a “luminous” novel (Jennifer Egan,
The New York Times Book Review) about a fiercely compelling young widow navigating grief, fear, and longing, and finding her own voice — “heartrendingly transcendant” (
The New York Times, Janet Maslin).
Set in Wexford, Ireland, Colm Tóibín’s magnificent seventh novel introduces the formidable, memorable, and deeply moving Nora Webster. Widowed at forty, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be sucked back into it. Wounded, selfish, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father. Yet she has moments of stunning insight and empathy, and when she begins to sing again, after decades, she finds solace, engagement, a haven — herself.
Nora Webster “may actually be a perfect work of fiction” (Los Angeles Times), by a “beautiful and daring” writer (The New York Times Book Review) at the zenith of his career, able to “sneak up on readers and capture their imaginations” (USA TODAY). “Miraculous...Tóibín portrays Nora with tremendous sympathy and understanding” (Ron Charles, The Washington Post).
Review
"The Ireland of four decades ago is beautifully evoked....Completely absorbing [and] remarkably heart-affecting."
Booklist (starred review)
Review
"A compelling portrait...[of] a brave woman learning how to find a meaningful life as she goes on alone."
Publishers Weekly
Review
"A high-wire act of an eighth novel... Toibin's radical restraint elevates what might have been a familiar tale of grief and survival into a realm of heightened inquiry. The result is a luminous, elliptical novel in which everyday life manages, in moments, to approach the mystical... There is much about Nora Webster that we never know. And her very mystery is what makes her regeneration, when it comes, feel universal."
Jennifer Egan, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"[Nora Webster] may actually be a perfect work of fiction... There is no pyrotechny in the writing — just compassion and shrewd insight. Which is where Toibin's brilliance lies... People call Toibin a beautiful writer because they don't know how otherwise to classify such a delicate talent, such empathic simplicity. Some mysteries can't be deciphered by criticism. Colm Toibin is not a beautiful writer, he's merely a great one."
Darin Strauss, The Los Angeles Times
Review
"Miraculous... a strikingly restrained novel about a woman awakening from grief and discovering her own space, her own will...extraordinary....[Toibin] portrays Nora with tremendous sympathy and understanding."
Ron Charles, The Washington Post
Review
"Toibin artfully shows us a Nora unmoored....This quiet, wrenching novel conceals considerable human turbulence beneath its placid surface. So Toibin has learned well from Henry James...In many ways, Nora Webster would bring an admiring smile to the Master's lips."
Daniel Dyer, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Review
"A deeply moving portrait of the flowering of a self-liberated woman, Nora Webster tells the story of all the invisible battles the heart faces every day."
Buzzy Jackson, Boston Globe
Review
"Heart-rendingly transcendent....Mr. Toibin's prose has an elegant, visceral simplicity."
Janet Maslin, The New York Times
About the Author
Colm Tóibín is the author of seven novels, including The Blackwater Lightship; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; and The Testament of Mary, as well as two story collections. Twice shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Tóibín lives in Dublin and New York.