An Irishman’s perspective on the Lindenhurst of 1976? Color yourself intrigued, reader.
“Long Island” is the novel, Colm Toibin is the author, and he’ll be putting in an appearance at the venerable Fridays at Five series at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton at the advertised 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 8.
Eilis Lacey is the heroine’s name — 40, with children, married to an Italian-American plumber. And?
“One day, when Tony is at work an Irishman comes to the door asking for Eilis by name. He tells her that his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child and that when the baby is born, he will not raise it but instead deposit it on Eilis’s doorstep.”
So says the publisher, Scribner. “Oh boy, what then?” So says you.
Mr. Toibin’s many widely hailed and much-awarded books include, previously in the Eilis Lacey series, “Brooklyn.” He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman professor of the humanities at Columbia University. That’s right, Starlings, those Silvermans.
Admission is $25 at the gate, which opens at 4:30. Also of interest? A folding table offering plastic tumblers of white wine and rosé.