A woman in Galway hears of the death of her son in the First World War. An Irishman is living an anonymous existence in Barcelona, under the shadows of 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. In the luminous stories that make up The News from Dublin Colm Tóibín delves into the days and nights of those living far from home: lives of great longing, at a great distance from past lives and past selves.