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The News from Dublin
In The News from Dublin, a beautiful collection of short stories from the bestselling author of Brooklyn and Long Island, Colm Tóibín delves into the days and nights of those living far from lives of great longing, at a great distance from past lives and past selves.
A woman in Galway hears of the death of her son in the First World War. An Irishman seeks anonymity in Barcelona, haunted by crimes he has committed. A man goes to Dublin from Enniscorthy to implore the Minister for Health for a special favour. A young woman is pregnant during the Spanish Civil War. An undocumented worker finds himself living an illegal life and must leave San Francisco, and his child, after thirty years in America. Three sisters who have been living in Argentina decide to return to Catalonia.
'Tóibín is the consummate cartographer of the private self, summoning with restrained acuity (and a delicious streak of sly humour) the thoughts his characters struggle to find words for' – Clare Clark, Guardian
A woman in Galway hears of the death of her son in the First World War. An Irishman seeks anonymity in Barcelona, haunted by crimes he has committed. A man goes to Dublin from Enniscorthy to implore the Minister for Health for a special favour. A young woman is pregnant during the Spanish Civil War. An undocumented worker finds himself living an illegal life and must leave San Francisco, and his child, after thirty years in America. Three sisters who have been living in Argentina decide to return to Catalonia.
'Tóibín is the consummate cartographer of the private self, summoning with restrained acuity (and a delicious streak of sly humour) the thoughts his characters struggle to find words for' – Clare Clark, Guardian
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 31, 2026
About the author
Colm Tóibín
240 books5,612 followersColm Tóibín FRSL, is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and poet. Tóibín is currently Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University in Manhattan and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 206 reviews
May 3, 2026
In a Nutshell: A literary short-story collection by the acclaimed Irish writer. Interesting variety of characters and situations. A bit haphazard in plot development. Flat in character development. Bleak. Feels very lengthy because of the slow pacing and meandering structure. Disappointing endings at times. Didn’t work much for me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This collection comprises nine stories, a few of which have been published before in other publications. The stories are set across multiple countries, Ireland included.
I had grabbed this collection mainly for two reasons. One, I have enjoyed a majority of the literary works written by contemporary Irish writers and want to explore more Irish fiction. Two, I liked one short story written by this author for Amazon Original Stories. (‘The Shortest Day’) However, this collection just wasn’t for me.
For one, the 300 pages seem endless as each story is terribly slow and hence feels fairly lengthy even if it might not be so. The first eight stories take up about 60% of the book, with the final entry being a novella.
I don’t mind lengthy stories as long as they have a clear structure. In this collection, most stories felt like they were meandering in arbitrary directions instead of moving steadily towards a clear end-goal. The haphazard development in a majority of the stories made me struggle to continue reading. I had to push myself to reach the finish line as I kept zoning out. At times, it was even tough to remember where a story began because the ending went somewhere else entirely.
To my disappointment, there is no foreword or author’s note introducing any theme for this collection. The blurb also makes it clear that there’s nothing tying these stories together except for the author. This also affected my experience. When I read collections, I prefer the set to be connected in some way, whether through the genre or a theme. Simply collecting random character-oriented stories in a book doesn’t make the whole thing come together to offer a unified reading experience.
The prose is superlative, no denying that. The description of the places demonstrates the author’s writing skills. The stories have a fair mix of first-person and third-person perspectives, and come through male as well as female characters. So at least there’s no feeling of déjà vu even in the rambling. That said, the dominant mood is of grief and bleakness and the humans are mostly shallow. This didn’t make my journey easy.
As always, I rated the stories individually, but except for the first entry, the stories didn’t click that much for me. The first story, titled ‘The Journey to Galway’, was a five-star reading experience with a brilliant depiction of a mother’s turmoil in the face of a tragedy without going melodramatic. The only other story that came close to the top rating was ‘Summer of ’38’, a good take on the choices one makes in life; I gave this four stars. The rest of the set earned three stars or lower. A couple of the stories (‘A Free Man‘ and ‘A Sum of Money’) would have easily crossed the four star mark had they offered more satisfying endings. The final story, ‘The Catalina Girls’, also had great potential, but by then, I was so gloomy from the depressing stories that the thought of reading 40% of the book just for one story came in the way of my concentration. I might retry this story again in future when I am in better spirits.
I love the cover. It stands out amid the clutter of similar-looking covers.
Overall, this collection didn’t go as well as I hoped it would. I anticipated an enriching set of characters facing complex emotions, but only the first, the second, and to some extent, the last story, delivered on this potential. Had this book been by some other author (of some other nationality), I might even have DNFed it. But I kept hoping for a story that would mirror that magnificent first-story experience and it never happened.
Some authors work better in longer narrations, so I might still try a novel by this author someday. But my curiosity about his short stories ends here.
Those who are of a more literary bent of mind might enjoy this collection better. But without a central theme or genre, I find it tough to figure out which set of readers to recommend this to.
2.1 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each story.
My thanks to Scribner for providing the DRC of “The News from Dublin” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I follow the Goodreads rating policy:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Lifelong favourite!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I loved the book.
⭐⭐⭐ - I liked the book.
⭐⭐ - I found the book average.
⭐ - I hated the book.
The decimals indicate the degree of the in-between feelings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Facebook ||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This collection comprises nine stories, a few of which have been published before in other publications. The stories are set across multiple countries, Ireland included.
I had grabbed this collection mainly for two reasons. One, I have enjoyed a majority of the literary works written by contemporary Irish writers and want to explore more Irish fiction. Two, I liked one short story written by this author for Amazon Original Stories. (‘The Shortest Day’) However, this collection just wasn’t for me.
For one, the 300 pages seem endless as each story is terribly slow and hence feels fairly lengthy even if it might not be so. The first eight stories take up about 60% of the book, with the final entry being a novella.
I don’t mind lengthy stories as long as they have a clear structure. In this collection, most stories felt like they were meandering in arbitrary directions instead of moving steadily towards a clear end-goal. The haphazard development in a majority of the stories made me struggle to continue reading. I had to push myself to reach the finish line as I kept zoning out. At times, it was even tough to remember where a story began because the ending went somewhere else entirely.
To my disappointment, there is no foreword or author’s note introducing any theme for this collection. The blurb also makes it clear that there’s nothing tying these stories together except for the author. This also affected my experience. When I read collections, I prefer the set to be connected in some way, whether through the genre or a theme. Simply collecting random character-oriented stories in a book doesn’t make the whole thing come together to offer a unified reading experience.
The prose is superlative, no denying that. The description of the places demonstrates the author’s writing skills. The stories have a fair mix of first-person and third-person perspectives, and come through male as well as female characters. So at least there’s no feeling of déjà vu even in the rambling. That said, the dominant mood is of grief and bleakness and the humans are mostly shallow. This didn’t make my journey easy.
As always, I rated the stories individually, but except for the first entry, the stories didn’t click that much for me. The first story, titled ‘The Journey to Galway’, was a five-star reading experience with a brilliant depiction of a mother’s turmoil in the face of a tragedy without going melodramatic. The only other story that came close to the top rating was ‘Summer of ’38’, a good take on the choices one makes in life; I gave this four stars. The rest of the set earned three stars or lower. A couple of the stories (‘A Free Man‘ and ‘A Sum of Money’) would have easily crossed the four star mark had they offered more satisfying endings. The final story, ‘The Catalina Girls’, also had great potential, but by then, I was so gloomy from the depressing stories that the thought of reading 40% of the book just for one story came in the way of my concentration. I might retry this story again in future when I am in better spirits.
I love the cover. It stands out amid the clutter of similar-looking covers.
Overall, this collection didn’t go as well as I hoped it would. I anticipated an enriching set of characters facing complex emotions, but only the first, the second, and to some extent, the last story, delivered on this potential. Had this book been by some other author (of some other nationality), I might even have DNFed it. But I kept hoping for a story that would mirror that magnificent first-story experience and it never happened.
Some authors work better in longer narrations, so I might still try a novel by this author someday. But my curiosity about his short stories ends here.
Those who are of a more literary bent of mind might enjoy this collection better. But without a central theme or genre, I find it tough to figure out which set of readers to recommend this to.
2.1 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each story.
My thanks to Scribner for providing the DRC of “The News from Dublin” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I follow the Goodreads rating policy:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Lifelong favourite!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I loved the book.
⭐⭐⭐ - I liked the book.
⭐⭐ - I found the book average.
⭐ - I hated the book.
The decimals indicate the degree of the in-between feelings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Facebook ||
December 31, 2025
3.5
This story collection spans the world through Ireland , Spain, New York in various time frames , but the burdens of grief, loss, and fear told introspectively are universal as families deal with death and despair. The writing as I have come to expect from Colm Toibin is beautiful, but the collection for me was uneven . Some I loved and others left me unsatisfied with abrupt endings . I enjoyed , “ THE JOURNEY TO GALWAY” , the first story which is a contemplative story of the depth of a mother’s grief , carrying the burden of having to relate the sad news. My heart was heavy throughout. The opening sentence drew me in :
“She remembered an unusual silence that morning—a stillness in the trees and in the farmyard, and a deadness in the house itself, no sounds from the kitchen, and no one moving up and down the stairs. But she wondered if the silence had been real, or, instead, if it had been something she had merely imagined afterwards.
A few others are commendable. “A FREE MAN” is both disturbing and sad . A man out of prison, but not free . I was taken by this story , but ended up not fully satisfied, not feeling I knew the truth . “SLEEP” is about grief untold. “THE NEWS FROM DUBLIN” depicts the desire for hope in the face of death. “BARTON SPRINGS” is another full of grief affecting a man’s life. “ SUMMER OF “38” at its heart is beautiful love story . “A SUM OF MONEY” reflects on how desperation to fit in makes for desperate choices , mistakes on the part of a young man .
Hoping to start the new year on a less depressing book, but I have to acknowledge the writing which at times had me rereading sentences just to experience them again.
I received a copy of this book from Simon & Schuster through NetGalley and Edelweiss.
This story collection spans the world through Ireland , Spain, New York in various time frames , but the burdens of grief, loss, and fear told introspectively are universal as families deal with death and despair. The writing as I have come to expect from Colm Toibin is beautiful, but the collection for me was uneven . Some I loved and others left me unsatisfied with abrupt endings . I enjoyed , “ THE JOURNEY TO GALWAY” , the first story which is a contemplative story of the depth of a mother’s grief , carrying the burden of having to relate the sad news. My heart was heavy throughout. The opening sentence drew me in :
“She remembered an unusual silence that morning—a stillness in the trees and in the farmyard, and a deadness in the house itself, no sounds from the kitchen, and no one moving up and down the stairs. But she wondered if the silence had been real, or, instead, if it had been something she had merely imagined afterwards.
A few others are commendable. “A FREE MAN” is both disturbing and sad . A man out of prison, but not free . I was taken by this story , but ended up not fully satisfied, not feeling I knew the truth . “SLEEP” is about grief untold. “THE NEWS FROM DUBLIN” depicts the desire for hope in the face of death. “BARTON SPRINGS” is another full of grief affecting a man’s life. “ SUMMER OF “38” at its heart is beautiful love story . “A SUM OF MONEY” reflects on how desperation to fit in makes for desperate choices , mistakes on the part of a young man .
Hoping to start the new year on a less depressing book, but I have to acknowledge the writing which at times had me rereading sentences just to experience them again.
I received a copy of this book from Simon & Schuster through NetGalley and Edelweiss.
January 20, 2026
This is a collection of short stories by best selling author Colm Tóibín that has a central connecting theme of either living far from home, perhaps with a longing to return, all are a distance from their past lives and perhaps from their former selves and there’s grief and loss, as well as misunderstanding.
The collection begins with a Journey to Galway, with a grieving mother, reflecting on a time before and after her son‘s wartime death. It’s short, sad and sharp and how the author packs so much into such a short story is admirable, this is probably my favourite in the collection. Another one that I think is especially good is News from Dublin which gives the collection its title. Here a brother goes from his family home in Enniscothy to Dublin to desperately seek help for a sick brother. It starts with optimism and hope but what news will he bring back from Dublin? One of the reasons I particularly like this one as it takes the storytelling into the Dail and the government of De Valera. It’s an island of a very different time to the present day and I like the glimpse into its past.
A.Sum of Money is a rather enigmatic tale of a boyhood mistake born out of desperation which takes us into another institution, this being a boarding school run by The Brothers. It’s a bit of an odd one, but there’s a recurring theme of the church/The Brothers which brings me neatly to A Free Man. This is an unsettling story but which confronts an uncomfortable past but does so well and very carefully. In Barcelona we meet Joe, whose family have severed all ties and he’s gone to Spain in search of anonymity after a very chequered past. It’s a reflective story as whilst Joe is free to wander the streets of Barcelona, he’s chained to his past whatever darkness lurks therein.
The final story is the longest and is entitled The Catalina Girls and concerns three sisters, taking the storytelling from Spain to Argentina and then back again to Catalonia. This is an immersive tale but which captures the sisters story and with distinctive characterisation.
Overall, this is a very well written series of short stories as you would expect from this talented author. It’s low-key, quiet, poignant and reflective and the stories span several decades. The heart of them all bar the final one, lies in Ireland and from their dispersing far and wide. If you like short stories and admire this author then I can recommend this immersive collection.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Pan Macmillan/Picadour for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.
The collection begins with a Journey to Galway, with a grieving mother, reflecting on a time before and after her son‘s wartime death. It’s short, sad and sharp and how the author packs so much into such a short story is admirable, this is probably my favourite in the collection. Another one that I think is especially good is News from Dublin which gives the collection its title. Here a brother goes from his family home in Enniscothy to Dublin to desperately seek help for a sick brother. It starts with optimism and hope but what news will he bring back from Dublin? One of the reasons I particularly like this one as it takes the storytelling into the Dail and the government of De Valera. It’s an island of a very different time to the present day and I like the glimpse into its past.
A.Sum of Money is a rather enigmatic tale of a boyhood mistake born out of desperation which takes us into another institution, this being a boarding school run by The Brothers. It’s a bit of an odd one, but there’s a recurring theme of the church/The Brothers which brings me neatly to A Free Man. This is an unsettling story but which confronts an uncomfortable past but does so well and very carefully. In Barcelona we meet Joe, whose family have severed all ties and he’s gone to Spain in search of anonymity after a very chequered past. It’s a reflective story as whilst Joe is free to wander the streets of Barcelona, he’s chained to his past whatever darkness lurks therein.
The final story is the longest and is entitled The Catalina Girls and concerns three sisters, taking the storytelling from Spain to Argentina and then back again to Catalonia. This is an immersive tale but which captures the sisters story and with distinctive characterisation.
Overall, this is a very well written series of short stories as you would expect from this talented author. It’s low-key, quiet, poignant and reflective and the stories span several decades. The heart of them all bar the final one, lies in Ireland and from their dispersing far and wide. If you like short stories and admire this author then I can recommend this immersive collection.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Pan Macmillan/Picadour for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.
April 14, 2026
Some Things Left Unsaid...
In the deeply moving collection “The News from Dublin,” Colm Tóibín demonstrates his exceptional skill through nine short stories characterized by an unadorned and melancholy style. By deftly utilizing restraint and withholding specific details, Tóibín creates a powerful emotional resonance within the narrative's negative space.
Tied together by characters grappling with doubt and transition, these narratives move through settings in Argentina, Spain, Ireland, and the United States. Tóibín focuses on the psychological weight of fear, loss, and grief, examining the dynamics of love, longing, and family through the eyes of those living abroad. His subtle style prioritizes internal reflection over direct confrontation, a technique that heightens the story's inherent tension.
Within this collection, Colm Tóibín consistently employs a strategy of restraint by eschewing explicit final confrontations, suggesting that direct description is not always necessary for emotional resolution. This technique is notably evident in ‘The Journey to Galway,’ a moving story about a mother tasked with informing her widowed daughter-in-law of her son's death in war. Similarly, ‘A Sum of Money’ builds significant tension as it follows a student who has stolen funds, culminating in an anticipated parental meeting that remains unwritten. Perhaps the most powerful example is ‘Five Bridges,’ which depicts an undocumented worker in the U.S. returning to Ireland after an anti-immigrant president is elected, a choice that implies a lasting break from his young daughter. By leaving such pivotal moments unspoken, the narratives heighten the psychological impact of the characters' experiences.
Although 'The Catalan Girls'-- by far the longest of the entries– feels somewhat sluggish and seemingly lacks character development, it remains an outlier in an otherwise strong volume. As is typical of Colm Tóibín’s work, “The News from Dublin” features stories that are elegantly phrased and expertly crafted and stands as a powerful testament to Tóibín’s capacity for eliciting deep emotional impact.
Thank you to Scribner, Edelweiss Plus, and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
In the deeply moving collection “The News from Dublin,” Colm Tóibín demonstrates his exceptional skill through nine short stories characterized by an unadorned and melancholy style. By deftly utilizing restraint and withholding specific details, Tóibín creates a powerful emotional resonance within the narrative's negative space.
Tied together by characters grappling with doubt and transition, these narratives move through settings in Argentina, Spain, Ireland, and the United States. Tóibín focuses on the psychological weight of fear, loss, and grief, examining the dynamics of love, longing, and family through the eyes of those living abroad. His subtle style prioritizes internal reflection over direct confrontation, a technique that heightens the story's inherent tension.
Within this collection, Colm Tóibín consistently employs a strategy of restraint by eschewing explicit final confrontations, suggesting that direct description is not always necessary for emotional resolution. This technique is notably evident in ‘The Journey to Galway,’ a moving story about a mother tasked with informing her widowed daughter-in-law of her son's death in war. Similarly, ‘A Sum of Money’ builds significant tension as it follows a student who has stolen funds, culminating in an anticipated parental meeting that remains unwritten. Perhaps the most powerful example is ‘Five Bridges,’ which depicts an undocumented worker in the U.S. returning to Ireland after an anti-immigrant president is elected, a choice that implies a lasting break from his young daughter. By leaving such pivotal moments unspoken, the narratives heighten the psychological impact of the characters' experiences.
Although 'The Catalan Girls'-- by far the longest of the entries– feels somewhat sluggish and seemingly lacks character development, it remains an outlier in an otherwise strong volume. As is typical of Colm Tóibín’s work, “The News from Dublin” features stories that are elegantly phrased and expertly crafted and stands as a powerful testament to Tóibín’s capacity for eliciting deep emotional impact.
Thank you to Scribner, Edelweiss Plus, and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
December 29, 2025
3.5 stars. I've read and enjoyed several of this author's books but this was my first time reading any of his short stories. I thought the first, second, and last ones were the strongest of this collection, but the rest of the stories didn't engage me as much, unfortunately. Having said that, I would still recommend this book.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publishers for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publishers for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The News From Dublin is a collection of short stories that have mostly appeared in other publications previously.
The two stories that I found most moving from the collection were the title story, News From Dublin, in which a man travels to the capital to try to get a cure for his consumptive brother; and The Journey to Galway, which tells the story of a woman who has some bad news to divulge during the war.
I knocked a star off for the final story, The Catalan Sisters, which felt like it rambled a little too much. It felt, to me, out of place in the collection although I cannot pinpoint why.
On the whole, a collection of well written stories that could describe any of our lives in times of trouble. I wasn't particularly blown away by any of them but they were all interesting.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Picador for the digital review copy.
The two stories that I found most moving from the collection were the title story, News From Dublin, in which a man travels to the capital to try to get a cure for his consumptive brother; and The Journey to Galway, which tells the story of a woman who has some bad news to divulge during the war.
I knocked a star off for the final story, The Catalan Sisters, which felt like it rambled a little too much. It felt, to me, out of place in the collection although I cannot pinpoint why.
On the whole, a collection of well written stories that could describe any of our lives in times of trouble. I wasn't particularly blown away by any of them but they were all interesting.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Picador for the digital review copy.
April 17, 2026
3.5 stars
The News from Dublin lands just a notch above my recent short story slump — less meh than Twelve Post-War Tales by Graham Swift, but still more "hmm-kay" than fully satisfying.
The voice is unmistakably Tóibín’s — restrained, observant, quietly emotional — and there are moments where that really works. But overall, nothing here quite rose up and grabbed me. The stories feel more like they passed over me, than anything like reaching up to draw me in.
It did make me wonder if Tóibín is simply a better fit for me at novel length. I loved Brooklyn, and part of me is starting to suspect that might be the outlier ... the one that clicks in a way the rest don’t.
Not a bad collection by any means, just one that never quite found its footing with me.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
The News from Dublin lands just a notch above my recent short story slump — less meh than Twelve Post-War Tales by Graham Swift, but still more "hmm-kay" than fully satisfying.
The voice is unmistakably Tóibín’s — restrained, observant, quietly emotional — and there are moments where that really works. But overall, nothing here quite rose up and grabbed me. The stories feel more like they passed over me, than anything like reaching up to draw me in.
It did make me wonder if Tóibín is simply a better fit for me at novel length. I loved Brooklyn, and part of me is starting to suspect that might be the outlier ... the one that clicks in a way the rest don’t.
Not a bad collection by any means, just one that never quite found its footing with me.
I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.
May 2, 2026
Very disappointing. If it hadn't been Colm Toibin, I wouldn't have finished it.
May 11, 2026
3.5. I just can't get to 4.
Exquisitely written as only Tóibín can and yet these stories felt largely distant and dispassionate to me. There was a sense of observing through a glass darkly, with meaning and emotion obscured by a deliberate pushing away of the self from any connection to what was unfolding within. The final story, The Catalan Girls, is nearly a novella, taking up a third of the collection's space, and is utterly dispiriting. It follows the lifespan of three sisters who flee Spain for Argentina as young girls with their widowed mother and return to Catalonia as women in their sixties to claim the inheritance of an aunt they haven't seen in all the intervening decades. None is likable and it all just seems very sad and without consequence.
Stories that did resonate were the melancholy and morally ambiguous A Free Man, about an Irish schoolteacher convicted of sexual abuse who relocates to Barcelona immediately upon release from prison, and A Sum of Money, about a boy who steals from his boarding schoolmates and is sent home in disgrace. Five Bridges, the story of an Irishman who overstayed his tourist visit by three decades and is finally leaving just as he's getting to know his preteen daughter, almost gets there, but it was hard to muster empathy for a character who never seemed that happy in America and now feels forced to leave.
What I love most about Colm Tóibín is the way he leaves so much unsaid, how he writes white spaces into his stories. So it's ironic that I come away from reading this collection with a sense that something essential is missing. Warmth. Humanity. Connection. These stories are beautifully written, but perhaps too existential and cool to the touch for me.
Exquisitely written as only Tóibín can and yet these stories felt largely distant and dispassionate to me. There was a sense of observing through a glass darkly, with meaning and emotion obscured by a deliberate pushing away of the self from any connection to what was unfolding within. The final story, The Catalan Girls, is nearly a novella, taking up a third of the collection's space, and is utterly dispiriting. It follows the lifespan of three sisters who flee Spain for Argentina as young girls with their widowed mother and return to Catalonia as women in their sixties to claim the inheritance of an aunt they haven't seen in all the intervening decades. None is likable and it all just seems very sad and without consequence.
Stories that did resonate were the melancholy and morally ambiguous A Free Man, about an Irish schoolteacher convicted of sexual abuse who relocates to Barcelona immediately upon release from prison, and A Sum of Money, about a boy who steals from his boarding schoolmates and is sent home in disgrace. Five Bridges, the story of an Irishman who overstayed his tourist visit by three decades and is finally leaving just as he's getting to know his preteen daughter, almost gets there, but it was hard to muster empathy for a character who never seemed that happy in America and now feels forced to leave.
What I love most about Colm Tóibín is the way he leaves so much unsaid, how he writes white spaces into his stories. So it's ironic that I come away from reading this collection with a sense that something essential is missing. Warmth. Humanity. Connection. These stories are beautifully written, but perhaps too existential and cool to the touch for me.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
This is a well written collection of short storied, but it is lacking thematical or temporal focus forvme. Some stories work well, but it did not quite come together.
May 5, 2026
In my opinion, this is a mixed bag of stories. Some were better than others.
March 26, 2026
my 11th tóibín. what a writer.
January 10, 2026
Huge thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. Out March 26th.
There’s something quietly magnetic about this collection. No histrionics, no grand flourishes, just a steady, attentive gaze, fixed on people living with distance: from home, from their past selves, from the lives they thought they might have. Colm Tóibín has always excelled at this kind of emotional cartography, and The News from Dublin feels like a masterclass in how much can be said with restraint.
The stories unfold at an unhurried pace, rooted firmly in character and place. Streets, cafés, institutions, homes, all rendered through small, telling details that immediately ground you. There’s a faintly sepia-toned quality to the collection, as though many of these lives belong to a shared historical moment, even when the timeline nudges closer to the present. It feels retrospective without being nostalgic, reflective without being indulgent.
I have a complicated relationship with short stories. I often find them frustrating — just as I’m settling in, they’re over. That never quite happened here. Each story feels carefully shaped, complete in itself, leaving space for reflection rather than bafflement. You’re brought in, allowed to observe closely, and then gently released, often with a small emotional bruise you only notice later.
Tóibín is particularly good on difficult people. Some of these characters are frankly unlikable, but they are always convincing. There’s no judgment in the writing, just psychological precision. You believe them, even when you don’t want to sit with them for long. That believability is the collection’s backbone.
A subtle connective thread runs through the book, news originating in Dublin and filtering outward, and I didn’t fully cop it until I reached the story titled The News from Dublin itself. Once it clicks, it’s quietly brilliant. Messages carried, delayed, misinterpreted. Lives altered by information arriving too late or in the wrong way. It’s understated and deeply effective.
Place matters enormously here. Dublin, Wexford, Enniscorthy, New York Tóibín writes from terrain he knows intimately, and it shows. The specificity is a pleasure: the Dáil, Bewley’s, the texture of institutions and everyday routines. Religion is threaded throughout, too: convents, nuns, faith woven into daily life, adding to the sense of a particular social and historical moment pressing softly against the present.
The collection gradually builds towards longer pieces, culminating in The Catalina Girls, which feels closer to a novella than a short story. It almost catches you out, especially if you’re reading digitally, and I was utterly absorbed. Three sisters, lives unfolding across countries and years, and a sense that you could happily stay with them for much longer. It lingered with me long after the final page.
This does feel slightly old-fashioned, as though it belongs to another era, but that sense of looking back is part of its quiet power. There’s a confidence here in silence, in place, in the unsaid. The emotional economy is impressive.
Readers who love Brooklyn or Long Island will feel very much at home. This occupies the same emotional terrain: inner lives rendered with care, history hovering at the edges, and a deep trust in the power of small moments. Subtle, restrained, and quietly addictive. Be warned, you may well read it in one sitting.
There’s something quietly magnetic about this collection. No histrionics, no grand flourishes, just a steady, attentive gaze, fixed on people living with distance: from home, from their past selves, from the lives they thought they might have. Colm Tóibín has always excelled at this kind of emotional cartography, and The News from Dublin feels like a masterclass in how much can be said with restraint.
The stories unfold at an unhurried pace, rooted firmly in character and place. Streets, cafés, institutions, homes, all rendered through small, telling details that immediately ground you. There’s a faintly sepia-toned quality to the collection, as though many of these lives belong to a shared historical moment, even when the timeline nudges closer to the present. It feels retrospective without being nostalgic, reflective without being indulgent.
I have a complicated relationship with short stories. I often find them frustrating — just as I’m settling in, they’re over. That never quite happened here. Each story feels carefully shaped, complete in itself, leaving space for reflection rather than bafflement. You’re brought in, allowed to observe closely, and then gently released, often with a small emotional bruise you only notice later.
Tóibín is particularly good on difficult people. Some of these characters are frankly unlikable, but they are always convincing. There’s no judgment in the writing, just psychological precision. You believe them, even when you don’t want to sit with them for long. That believability is the collection’s backbone.
A subtle connective thread runs through the book, news originating in Dublin and filtering outward, and I didn’t fully cop it until I reached the story titled The News from Dublin itself. Once it clicks, it’s quietly brilliant. Messages carried, delayed, misinterpreted. Lives altered by information arriving too late or in the wrong way. It’s understated and deeply effective.
Place matters enormously here. Dublin, Wexford, Enniscorthy, New York Tóibín writes from terrain he knows intimately, and it shows. The specificity is a pleasure: the Dáil, Bewley’s, the texture of institutions and everyday routines. Religion is threaded throughout, too: convents, nuns, faith woven into daily life, adding to the sense of a particular social and historical moment pressing softly against the present.
The collection gradually builds towards longer pieces, culminating in The Catalina Girls, which feels closer to a novella than a short story. It almost catches you out, especially if you’re reading digitally, and I was utterly absorbed. Three sisters, lives unfolding across countries and years, and a sense that you could happily stay with them for much longer. It lingered with me long after the final page.
This does feel slightly old-fashioned, as though it belongs to another era, but that sense of looking back is part of its quiet power. There’s a confidence here in silence, in place, in the unsaid. The emotional economy is impressive.
Readers who love Brooklyn or Long Island will feel very much at home. This occupies the same emotional terrain: inner lives rendered with care, history hovering at the edges, and a deep trust in the power of small moments. Subtle, restrained, and quietly addictive. Be warned, you may well read it in one sitting.
March 26, 2026
The News from Dublin is a collection of nine short stories loosely linked by a theme of characters either living far from home or building a new life, putting a distance between their current and past selves.
The collection covers a range of topics and settings. The stories were all interesting, but I inevitably found some much stronger than others. The opening story, The Journey to Galway, was particularly moving. A woman receives a telegram informing her of her son’s death in the First World War, so she takes a train to Galway to break the news to her daughter-in-law. Tóibín perfectly captures the range of emotions she goes through during the journey: grief, loss, a sense of denial, and the trauma of being the one who has to deliver bad news.
Another of my favourites was Five Bridges, set in the present day and tackling a subject that is very relevant at the moment. It follows an Irish plumber, Paul, who is an immigrant living in America and, despite having been there for thirty years, he believes he will be a target of ICE because he came on a tourist visa and has no other documents. Before he leaves the country, probably forever, he reconnects with his young daughter, Geraldine, who lives with his ex-partner and her new husband. As Paul bonds with Geraldine at last, he is full of regret, both for the years she’s been missing from his life and for the future he faces without her. I also liked A Sum of Money, which is about a teenage boy whose parents have made sacrifices to be able to send him to an expensive boarding school. Conscious of not having as much money to spend as his friends, he begins to steal from the other boys – but what will happen when he’s found out? I enjoyed this one as it felt a bit different from the rest of the stories, which made it stand out.
I only really have two criticisms of this book. One is that most of the stories are very open-ended, leaving things unresolved and not providing any answers. As a sort of snapshot of life, giving a glimpse into a character’s world, they’re very effective, but I personally tend to prefer short stories with a more satisfactory ending or a clever twist. The other is that the final story, The Catalan Girls, is novella-length and takes up most of the second half of the book. Although I did enjoy that one, which follows the story of three sisters who move to Argentina from Catalonia as children, I thought it made the whole book feel unbalanced.
The stories in this collection were written at various times and first appeared in other publications rather than being written specifically for this book, but they fit together well (apart from the final one being so much longer). They all have a quiet, reflective tone and I found them very poignant.
The collection covers a range of topics and settings. The stories were all interesting, but I inevitably found some much stronger than others. The opening story, The Journey to Galway, was particularly moving. A woman receives a telegram informing her of her son’s death in the First World War, so she takes a train to Galway to break the news to her daughter-in-law. Tóibín perfectly captures the range of emotions she goes through during the journey: grief, loss, a sense of denial, and the trauma of being the one who has to deliver bad news.
Another of my favourites was Five Bridges, set in the present day and tackling a subject that is very relevant at the moment. It follows an Irish plumber, Paul, who is an immigrant living in America and, despite having been there for thirty years, he believes he will be a target of ICE because he came on a tourist visa and has no other documents. Before he leaves the country, probably forever, he reconnects with his young daughter, Geraldine, who lives with his ex-partner and her new husband. As Paul bonds with Geraldine at last, he is full of regret, both for the years she’s been missing from his life and for the future he faces without her. I also liked A Sum of Money, which is about a teenage boy whose parents have made sacrifices to be able to send him to an expensive boarding school. Conscious of not having as much money to spend as his friends, he begins to steal from the other boys – but what will happen when he’s found out? I enjoyed this one as it felt a bit different from the rest of the stories, which made it stand out.
I only really have two criticisms of this book. One is that most of the stories are very open-ended, leaving things unresolved and not providing any answers. As a sort of snapshot of life, giving a glimpse into a character’s world, they’re very effective, but I personally tend to prefer short stories with a more satisfactory ending or a clever twist. The other is that the final story, The Catalan Girls, is novella-length and takes up most of the second half of the book. Although I did enjoy that one, which follows the story of three sisters who move to Argentina from Catalonia as children, I thought it made the whole book feel unbalanced.
The stories in this collection were written at various times and first appeared in other publications rather than being written specifically for this book, but they fit together well (apart from the final one being so much longer). They all have a quiet, reflective tone and I found them very poignant.
dnf-liked-it-but-not-the-vibe-rn
March 2, 2026Very good quietly devastating prose and I will probably finish this at some point! But, I was basically reading to figure out if I wanted to do it for my book club and decided to do something older/a little more varied in tone.
Would still heartily recommend to anyone who likes stories about grief, stories about regret, stories about regretting grief, or stories about Irish people (with all of the implied grief & regret that encompasses).
Would still heartily recommend to anyone who likes stories about grief, stories about regret, stories about regretting grief, or stories about Irish people (with all of the implied grief & regret that encompasses).
May 7, 2026
I liked all the short stories in different ways which are read by two narrators on the audible. I think the last one ‘the Catalan Girls’ would’ve been better as a separate novella and didn’t interest me as much. The TB story reminded me of a book by Linda Grant and conveyed the same sense of injustice. A Free Man stayed with me because the author managed to humanise the character in spite of his heinous crimes. Another story that was impactful was the one about the isolation a schoolboy from a poor home feels living with privileged students. The journey home in a car full of cigarette smoke and unspoken words is very powerful. Themes of loneliness, exile, return, displacement, secrets and lies are explored in the lives of people who appear to be ordinary but are far more complex.
April 5, 2026
a brilliant collection of short stories that spread its roots in Ireland, USA, Argentina and other places, forming an intricate network of human emotions and resilience. i really loved the flow of the stories the quiet melody of it, as if draped in a veil of morning mist. special thanks for the publishers for sending me the arc!
November 25, 2025
The News from Dublin is a gentle and thoughtful collection of stories. Colm Tóibín writes about everyday people dealing with love, loss, and change, using clear and calm language. The stories are quiet but full of feeling, and they leave you thinking about the characters long after you finish reading.
May 2, 2026
This new collection of nine short stories from Colm Toibin was a must-read for me. His writing casts an addictive spell, creating a luminous magic from everyday events and ordinary lives and while the stories contained within vary greatly in subject matter and length - from just five pages (Barton Springs) to a hundred (The Catalan Girls) they are all silkily readable, sensitive and moving. It’s difficult to select highlights from a book where the standard is universally high, but the opening story, Journey to Galway, a tightly-focused miniature dealing with grief and loss, has immediate emotional impact and gets the book off to a striking start; the title story vividly evokes the divisions between Irish government and provincial life in the 1950s; A Free Man is a disturbing and strangely involving story of a notorious paedophile’s attempts to build a new life in Barcelona after serving a long prison sentence in an Irish jail. But for sheer enjoyment, the best story in the book must be The Catalan Girls, the story of three very different sisters who return to rural Catalonia fifty years after their mother had taken them to a new life in Argentina; it’s a story of quiet drama and humour and how people can respond in many different ways to being uprooted from their beginnings. It’s an absolute joy to read.
April 25, 2026
3.5 stars
The News from Dublin is a collection of 9 short stories - many published for the first time - one of which is more of a novella at over 100 pages. Quiet, insightful and beautifully written stories with varied settings including Ireland, the U.S., Spain and Argentina about the lives of ordinary people dealing with loss, despair, and grief.
I don't often read short stories because they often leave me wanting more but I'll read anything written by Colm Tóibín. My favourites in this collection were The Journey to Galway about a mother who receives word of the death of her fighter pilot son in World War I and must travel to Galway to inform his wife and children and Sleep which is about an Irish man living in New York City who suffers from horrible nightmares as he grieves the death of his brother.
The News from Dublin is a collection of 9 short stories - many published for the first time - one of which is more of a novella at over 100 pages. Quiet, insightful and beautifully written stories with varied settings including Ireland, the U.S., Spain and Argentina about the lives of ordinary people dealing with loss, despair, and grief.
I don't often read short stories because they often leave me wanting more but I'll read anything written by Colm Tóibín. My favourites in this collection were The Journey to Galway about a mother who receives word of the death of her fighter pilot son in World War I and must travel to Galway to inform his wife and children and Sleep which is about an Irish man living in New York City who suffers from horrible nightmares as he grieves the death of his brother.
May 2, 2026
Een van mijn favoriete schrijvers. Negen korte verhalen. De een langer dan de ander. De meeste verhalen spelen zich af in Ierland en een paar in Spanje. Over hele gewone mensen met bijzondere verhalen. Geen een verhaal heeft een definitief einde. In een recensie las ik, ‘stories of displacement’ 🩶.
April 4, 2026
Not generally a fan of the short story, but ready to suspend my reluctance for Colm Toibin and I was right to. In the hands of a skilful and concise storyteller these stories flew off the page and were fully engaging despite their length. I just love his language and characters and the way that Irishness is so beautifully conveyed.
May 2, 2026
I loved this new collection of short stories by Colm Toibin. This first, a very short story set in Ireland during World War II, follows a mother as receives a telegram of the death of her son in combat, and her travel from Dublin to Galway to inform his widow. Other stories evoke themes seen throughout Toibin's work--stories set in Ireland, New York, and Spain, stories about gay men and straight women. He is a magical storyteller.
April 21, 2026
I really do enjoy a collection of short stories but several of them focused on irredeemable characters, and I was waiting for them to develop or for a plot twist, but that never came. The “complexities of family, longing, loss and love” weren’t actually that complex to me. But maybe I missed something, who’s to say.
April 4, 2026
I was disappointed in this latest work by one of my favourite authors. I did not connect with the characters Toibin presented nor did I necessarily understand the connections between their situations.,
February 25, 2026
4.5 stars.
A charming collection of short stories, with the final, longer one, The Catalan Girls, being more of a novella. They have shared and recurrent themes of grief, loss, family relationships and secrets, as well as a sense of displacement from home and a longing for return.
In Journey to Galway a mother receives the news that her only son has been killed in the last year of the war and the story tells of her journey to Galway to carry the news to her daughter in law and grandchildren.
Summer of ‘38 tells the story of Marta, a young woman during the Spanish Civil War, and her memories of the soldiers at a local encampment. Now elderly, with adult daughters, she negotiates around a prospective encounter to ensure that her secret past and the present do not collide.
In Five Bridges Irishman Paul is in a reflective mood as he spends a final few days with his young daughter, Geraldine, before he plans to leave the US, knowing that as an illegal immigrant he will not be able to return.
In Sleep a man seeks help to deal with nightmares about the death of his brother that threaten to overshadow every aspect of his life.
In The News from Dublin Maurice makes a trip to Dublin to meet the Health Minister and see if he can get his sick brother onto a potentially lifesaving drug trial.
Barton Springs is a quiet reflection on loss and solitude.
In A Sum of Money with finances tight at home, Dan finds a way to cover his expenses at his diocesan boarding school.
A Free Man - a man is released from prison, but never feels entirely free, as his past continues to haunt him.
The Catalan Girls - follows the lives of three sisters from Spain to Argentina and back to Catalonia after the death of their aunt. It deals with sibling relationships and imperfect childhood memories as well as the overall theme of travel and displacement versus a sense of belonging. This story at the end of the book felt a bit too long and rambling really, which is why the collection wasn't a five star read for me.
As always, Tóibín perfectly captures the depths of human emotions at life’s most difficult times. These stories are simultaneously both gentle in tone and yet powerful in their messages.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the advanced review copy.
A charming collection of short stories, with the final, longer one, The Catalan Girls, being more of a novella. They have shared and recurrent themes of grief, loss, family relationships and secrets, as well as a sense of displacement from home and a longing for return.
In Journey to Galway a mother receives the news that her only son has been killed in the last year of the war and the story tells of her journey to Galway to carry the news to her daughter in law and grandchildren.
Summer of ‘38 tells the story of Marta, a young woman during the Spanish Civil War, and her memories of the soldiers at a local encampment. Now elderly, with adult daughters, she negotiates around a prospective encounter to ensure that her secret past and the present do not collide.
In Five Bridges Irishman Paul is in a reflective mood as he spends a final few days with his young daughter, Geraldine, before he plans to leave the US, knowing that as an illegal immigrant he will not be able to return.
In Sleep a man seeks help to deal with nightmares about the death of his brother that threaten to overshadow every aspect of his life.
In The News from Dublin Maurice makes a trip to Dublin to meet the Health Minister and see if he can get his sick brother onto a potentially lifesaving drug trial.
Barton Springs is a quiet reflection on loss and solitude.
In A Sum of Money with finances tight at home, Dan finds a way to cover his expenses at his diocesan boarding school.
A Free Man - a man is released from prison, but never feels entirely free, as his past continues to haunt him.
The Catalan Girls - follows the lives of three sisters from Spain to Argentina and back to Catalonia after the death of their aunt. It deals with sibling relationships and imperfect childhood memories as well as the overall theme of travel and displacement versus a sense of belonging. This story at the end of the book felt a bit too long and rambling really, which is why the collection wasn't a five star read for me.
As always, Tóibín perfectly captures the depths of human emotions at life’s most difficult times. These stories are simultaneously both gentle in tone and yet powerful in their messages.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the advanced review copy.
May 3, 2026
This was a bit of a weird one - a collection of short stories, some of which hit the mark and left me satisfied, others just a bit weird and disturbing with abrupt endings.
This is my third book by this author and overall I think Colm Toibin is an exceptional writer, his prose is crisp and evocative and often compelling. But in this book one or two of the stories contained a few sentences or phrases that just felt a bit crass or crude and jarring compared to how I expect him to write.
Others stories left me feeling like I was standing on a cliff edge with the character but I had no idea if they would walk off the edge or retreat to a happy ending! Such enigmatic endings left me either a bit deflated or little perplexed.
I also felt they didn’t work so well as a collection , some were very short, yet the final one is much longer and covers a third of the book.
However it was this longer story, “The Catalan Girls” that I enjoyed the most. It had echoes of “Long Island” and “Brooklyn” in that I liked the protagonists in them both enormously but always felt like they were a bit of an enigma and that the author does enough to draw you in big also leave you questioning who they are and what they are really thinking, which I found very clever!
I was going to keep reading books by Colm Toibin but I think I will take a break from him for a bit and read something else , but I know I will come back to his books again in the future as he is an accomplished, skilful storyteller in my opinion .
I was going with 3 stars until I read the final story which was my fave and bumped the book up to a solid 3.5 stars!
This is my third book by this author and overall I think Colm Toibin is an exceptional writer, his prose is crisp and evocative and often compelling. But in this book one or two of the stories contained a few sentences or phrases that just felt a bit crass or crude and jarring compared to how I expect him to write.
Others stories left me feeling like I was standing on a cliff edge with the character but I had no idea if they would walk off the edge or retreat to a happy ending! Such enigmatic endings left me either a bit deflated or little perplexed.
I also felt they didn’t work so well as a collection , some were very short, yet the final one is much longer and covers a third of the book.
However it was this longer story, “The Catalan Girls” that I enjoyed the most. It had echoes of “Long Island” and “Brooklyn” in that I liked the protagonists in them both enormously but always felt like they were a bit of an enigma and that the author does enough to draw you in big also leave you questioning who they are and what they are really thinking, which I found very clever!
I was going to keep reading books by Colm Toibin but I think I will take a break from him for a bit and read something else , but I know I will come back to his books again in the future as he is an accomplished, skilful storyteller in my opinion .
I was going with 3 stars until I read the final story which was my fave and bumped the book up to a solid 3.5 stars!
May 13, 2026
Capturing the minds of individuals in extreme situations is quite difficult. It is easy to imagine what a person who is going through the issues all adults do–running late to work, relationship struggles, paying bills–is thinking, but it is hard to see inside the mind of a person whose issues are much deeper than the surface. When the issues lurking below are dark, many don't want to shine a light on them. Tóibín decides that he will show what is hiding in the minds of those whose thoughts plague them–Or worse, don't. But Tóibín also allows for moments of beauty in this book–through the thoughts of a father looking to step up in his child's life, a mother hoping to carry the grief for her stepdaughter, and a woman looking back on the beauty of love. My only complaint is that the quality of the stories ebbs and flows throughout the book.
Top stories
Five Bridges
Summer of 38
A Free Man
Top stories
Five Bridges
Summer of 38
A Free Man
April 27, 2026
I liked some stories more than others but the last, longest story really touched me. This is the story of three sisters from Spain who have spent most of their lives in Argentina, but return to Spain together. Another stand out for me was the title story, about a brother trying to use his thin political connections to get a new treatment for his dying brother.
I am a big fan of short stories and really enjoyed most of this book.
I am a big fan of short stories and really enjoyed most of this book.
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