It's easy to get homesick when you're an ocean away from everyone and everything you've ever known and loved. After moving to Brooklyn, New York, young Eilis Lacey feels like a tiny, Irish fish in a gigantic, American sea. In other words, she misses her home.
As she struggles with these feelings of homesickness, she also begins to adapt to life in America, meeting a new boy-toy and moving up in the rank in her job. Now Brooklyn feels like home. But when a family tragedy forces her to return to Ireland's craggy shores, however, Eilis is forced to choose which place is her home once and for all.
Questions About The Home
- Does Eilis feel comfortable in her house in Ireland? How does that change after Rose's death?
- Does Eilis like Mrs. Kehoe's boarding house? Explain.
- Which is Eilis' home at the end of the novel: Brooklyn or Ireland?
- How does the concept of family relate to the concept of home in the novel?