A new story from Colm Tóibín is always worth paying attention to, and this one seems especially resonant given current events.. Tóibín often writes about displacement and belonging, and I think we can expect more of that here — though with a twist. From his interview with Deborah Treisman I see that here we have an undocumented Irish man who overstayed his visa years ago and, given things going on, decides it’s time to go back to Ireland. I haven’t read this one yet, but I’m curious to see how Tóibín handles this premise. This is how the story begins:

She promised that the climbing would be easy.

“Even for you,” she said.

“How long?”

“An hour. Or maybe two hours. Or maybe three.”

“Give or take?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Paul had told her two weeks earlier, on their last outing to Point Reyes Station, that he was leaving, packing up. She would be able to come to Ireland to visit him, he said now, and they should start making plans for that.

I’ve always admired Tóibín’s restraint—let’s see how that plays out in this new story. Please feel free to leave your thoughts below!