Nora Webster - by Colm Toibin (Paperback)

About the Book

Widowed in her forties, with four children and not enough money, Nora has lost the love of her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her from the stifling world to which she was born. And now she fears she may be drawn back into it. Wounded, strong-willed, clinging to secrecy in a tiny community where everyone knows your business, Nora is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to the suffering of her young sons, who have lost their father. Yet she has moments of stunning empathy and kindness, and when she begins to sing again, after decades, she finds solace, engagement, a haven-- herself.

Book Synopsis

From one of contemporary literature's bestselling, critically acclaimed, and beloved authors: a "luminous" novel (Jennifer Egan, The New York Times Book Review) about a fiercely compelling young widow navigating grief, fear, and longing, and finding her own voice--"heartrendingly transcendent" (The New York Times).

At forty, Nora Webster is newly widowed, left with four children and not nearly enough money. Maurice, the love of her life, had once saved her from a stifling existence--but now he's gone, and Nora fears she may be pulled back into a world she fought hard to leave behind. In a small Irish town where privacy is a luxury, Nora tries to keep her sorrow private--even as her young sons silently mourn the father they barely understand is missing.

As she wrestles with fear, anger, and identity, Nora reveals a complex interior life--wounded and secretive, yet capable of astonishing empathy and strength. When she rediscovers her passion for singing, Nora begins a quiet transformation, finding solace, connection, and a sense of self that she had long buried.

Shortlisted for the 2016 Audie Award for Literary Fiction and celebrated as "a perfect work of fiction" (Los Angeles Times), Nora Webster is a powerful and intimate look at grief, motherhood, and female independence. For fans of Brooklyn, The Testament of Mary, and Vinegar Hill, this novel is a deeply moving addition to the best of Irish literary fiction and an unforgettable story for book clubs and lovers of emotionally resonant stories.

"Miraculous...Tóibín portrays Nora with tremendous sympathy and understanding" (The Washington Post). Nora Webster is a masterpiece of quiet power, perfect for fans of character-driven fiction and literary explorations of personal transformation.

Review Quotes

"[Nora Webster] may actually be a perfect work of fiction... There is no pyrotechny in the writing -- just compassion and shrewd insight. Which is where Toibin's brilliance lies... People call Toibin a beautiful writer because they don't know how otherwise to classify such a delicate talent, such empathic simplicity. Some mysteries can't be deciphered by criticism. Colm Toibin is not a beautiful writer, he's merely a great one."-- "Darin Strauss, The Los Angeles Times"

"[A] quietly moving study of a complex character and her ambiguous feelings toward the web of family and neighbors surrounding her in the small town of Enniscorthy.... All his books share precise, restrained prose, which can, in its simplicity, reach elegance."-- "Maya Muir, The Portland Oregonian"

"A compelling portrait... [of] a brave woman learning how to find a meaningful life as she goes on alone."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"A deeply moving portrait of the flowering of a self-liberated woman, Nora Webster tells the story of all the invisible battles the heart faces every day."--Buzzy Jackson, Boston Globe

"A high-wire act of an eighth novel... Toibin's radical restraint elevates what might have been a familiar tale of grief and survival into a realm of heightened inquiry. The result is a luminous, elliptical novel in which everyday life manages, in moments, to approach the mystical... There is much about Nora Webster that we never know. And her very mystery is what makes her regeneration, when it comes, feel universal."-- "Jennifer Egan, The New York Times Book Review"

"Compelling...an emotionally satisfying read...powerful."-- "The Associated Press"

"Each paragraph of these pages rewards rereading, so deftly are they composed, and so full of pathos and insight."-- "Claud Peck, The Minneapolis Star Tribune"

"Fascinating... Revelatory... More thoughtful than Emma Bovary and less self-destructive, in the end far and away a better parent than the doomed Anna Karenina for all the latter's dramatic posturing, Nora Webster is easily as memorable as either--and far more believable. To say more would spoil a masterful-- and unforgettable--novel."--Betsy Burton "NPR"

"Heart-rendingly transcendent... Mr. Toibin's prose has an elegant, visceral simplicity."-- "Janet Maslin, The New York Times"

"Miraculous... a strikingly restrained novel about a woman awakening from grief and discovering her own space, her own will...extraordinary... [Toibin] portrays Nora with tremendous sympathy and understanding."-- "Ron Charles, The Washington Post"

"Momentous, made with consummate art... It does everything we ought to ask of a great novel: that it respond to the fullness of our lives, be as large as life itself."-- "Tessa Hadley, The Guardian"

"Richly detailed... Tóibín's slow pacing results in bright moments of beauty."-- "The New Yorker"

"The Ireland of four decades ago is beautifully evoked... Completely absorbing [and] remarkably heart-affecting."-- "Booklist (starred review)"

"Toibin artfully shows us a Nora unmoored...This quiet, wrenching novel conceals considerable human turbulence beneath its placid surface. So Toibin has learned well from Henry James...In many ways, Nora Webster would bring an admiring smile to the Master's lips."--Daniel Dyer, Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Toibin's restraint, sly humor and gentle prose cadence echo those of another Irish master, William Trevor. So does his affection for his characters... How Nora chooses to make her voice heard and how her children find ways to express their own pain provide Nora Webster's plot and pleasure...a so-called average life can make for a thrilling read...Toibin presents one woman's life keenly observed and honored with compassion. With Enniscorthy, he also creates a town, constrained and forever behind the times though it is, that feels like the whole world."-- "The Miami Herald"

About the Author

Colm Tóibín is the author of eleven novels, including Long Island, an Oprah's Book Club Pick; The Magician, winner of the Rathbones Folio Prize; The Master, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Brooklyn, winner of the Costa Book Award; and Nora Webster, winner of the Hawthornden Prize, as well as three story collections and several books of criticism. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and was named the 2022-2024 Laureate for Irish Fiction by the Arts Council of Ireland. In 2021, he was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature.