'This is the most astonishing piece of writing, lyrical in its emotion and spare in its construction ...Toibin has crafted an unmissable read' Sunday Herald In Blackwater in the early 1990s, three women Dora Devereux, her daughter Lily and her granddaughter Helen have come together after years of strife and reached an uneasy truce. Helen's adored brother Declan is dying. Two friends join him and the women in a crumbling old house by the sea, where the six of them, from different generations and with different beliefs, must listen and come to terms with one another. 'It is in his emotional choreography that Toibin shows himself to be an exceptional writer. Helen is estranged from both her mother and grandmother ...Toibin helps them make peace and he does it beautifully' Sunday Telegraph 'He writes in spare, powerful prose and he is truly perceptive about family relationships which, at times, makes reading his stories incredibly painful. But this is a beautiful novel' Belfast News 'We shall be reading and living with The Blackwater Lightship in twenty years' Independent on Sunday 'Rises to heights of extraordinary beauty' Independent on Sunday

科爾姆•托賓，具有國際聲譽的愛爾蘭當代著名作傢。他一九五五年生於愛爾蘭東南部一個積極投身愛爾蘭獨立運動的傢庭，畢業於都柏林大學，主修曆史和英文。

自一九九〇年發錶處女作《南方》以來，托賓已齣版七部長篇小說、兩部短篇小說集、一部戲劇和多部遊記、散文集。《黑水燈塔船》、《大師》先後入圍布剋奬決選名單，後者二〇〇六年榮獲IMPAC都柏林國際文學奬。《布魯剋林》獲二〇〇九年度英國科斯塔最佳小說奬。

托賓的作品主要描寫愛爾蘭社會、移居他鄉者的生活、個人身份與性取嚮的探索與堅持等。他文筆優雅恬淡，內斂含蓄，被譽為“英語文學中的語言大師”。

托賓先後在斯坦福大學、得剋薩斯大學、普林斯頓大學教授寫作。目前，托賓擔任哥倫比亞大學英語和比較文學係教授，在都柏林和紐約兩地居住。二〇一一年，英國《觀察傢報》將其選入“英國最重要的三百位知識分子”。