The Latest Breaking News from Colm Tóibín

THE COUNTDOWN: Our chief books critic Martin Chilton chooses his very best reads of the year, from state-of-the-nation novels to surprising memoirs

From best-selling romances to non-fiction marvels

This follow-up, set 20 years on, kicks off with a marriage in crisis and skilfully conveys how blind we are to our own motivations

The Seventies! The decade of flares, chevron moustaches and disco. Well forget all that. In Long Island, Colm Tóibín’s sequel to Fifties-set Brooklyn, it’s frosted glass doors, Vietnam protests on the tele and people suddenly trying to give up ciggies after years of carefree chain-smoking that indicate we have skipped…

The Irish novelist is at the height of his powers with a sequel to Brooklyn, set twenty years later

The Irish author on the follow-up to his bestselling novel, being blanked at the Oscars and the joys of giving up drinking

In a heartrending follow-up to his beloved 2009 novel, Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín handles uncertainties and moral conundrums with exquisite delicacy, zigzagging through time to a devastating climax.

From Salman Rushdie’s terrifying story of surviving a stabbing to David Nicholls’ latest must-read romantic novel, Saskia Kemsley shares her pick of the best new fiction and non-fiction releases for the summer

The UK literary festival unveils 29 taster events next year and plans to focus on ‘global themes and the impact of issues on the world’