Oprah Winfrey unveils "Long Island" as her latest book club pick

We are very excited because Oprah — there's only one, I don't even need to say her last name — is here to reveal her newest book club selection only on CBS Mornings. And we love when that happens. To Oprah, drum roll please. What did you select?

And this is the thing: Colum, Colum, Colum. When Oprah told me about the book, she says, 'You are really —' she doesn't say this about all the books — but she said, 'You're going to really love this book.' And from the moment it started, because it starts with the Irishman coming to the door. And what does he say, Oprah, when he comes to the door? He says that there is a problem with your husband because your husband has gotten my wife pregnant. And I said, 'You're going to love this story,' because Oprah knows I always enjoy a good cheater, cheater pumpkin eater story. Long Island is a sequel to Tóibín's 2009 New York Times bestselling novel called Brooklyn. It's about a young woman named Eilis Lacey who left her small Irish town for a new life in America. So Long Island picks up more than 20 years later. She's married to a plumber, his name is Tony, he's a cheater, cheater pumpkin eater, and she's a mother of two teenagers. Colum Tóibín takes us to the beach on Long Island for a preview.

Tony and Eilis often arrived at Jones Beach early on a Sunday, carrying a cooler with drinks and sandwiches and a large sun umbrella that with its yellow and blue stripes stood out so the Tony's brothers and their friends could easily locate them. Long Island is a novel which takes place in 1976, and Eilis, who's the heroine of the novel, is Irish. And so for her, this is the nearest thing to Ireland that she could find on Long Island, which is the beach and the sea. Long Island takes place 25 years after Brooklyn. I never intended to write it, but then an idea occurred to me one day in that funny way writers have, where you're walking along the street and 'Oh, if that happened, that could happen.' And once I had that, I had another novel. When Eilis goes home, she goes to another island, it's Ireland, it's not Long Island, but it also has a beach. She surfaced, she felt she'd had enough, it was too cold, she could not wait to return to shore and dry herself off and put her dress back on. She noticed the man coming towards her, stepping aside to avoid a wave, then she saw that it was Jim Farrell. He turned towards her and shook his head with a sense of rueful surprise, as if this encounter after all the years could not be happening. I think Eilis is good at breaking men's hearts, but she doesn't mean to do it. I work with ambiguity, you know, I work where there's no such thing as someone really good or someone really evil. I think that would be a sort of cartoon. But with a novel, you're always trying to work out the next scene where someone does something slightly different than you expect them to do. I think a book is a way of intensifying our vision of life, to distill things. It will give you a sort of excitement, it makes life more vivid and exciting.

You know what? Vivid and exciting is a really good way to describe this book. I was up till 12. I went to the Met Ball and then came home. I had 10 pages left to read because my life has been crazy. I wanted to finish it even though many people could have told me how it ended. I go, 'No, I want to find out how this is myself.' Colum, Colum is here, and Oprah of course is here. And join us once again. Congratulations, Mr. Tóibín. Congratulations. So could you take us to the day you get that call? You get the call and she says what to you? She says, 'This is Oprah Winfrey.' And in whatever way she said it, I knew that was true, it wasn't an impersonator.

How did you know?

Because of her tone. Whatever way she said it, it could only have been one person. It could not have been anyone copying her. But I don't remember what I said then.

I always knew how it was going to end, but I realized the reader didn't. So you had to go very, very slowly. Even five pages before the end, you're still not sure one more thing could occur and then bring the book down slowly, slowly. And I told him I wasn't sure I was happy with the ending.

Oprah is right about this because when I got to the last page, I turned the page to see, 'Okay, now what's going to happen?' So it said to me that maybe you're leaving it open for another sequel, because you said you hadn't intended to write another one after Brooklyn, and yet you wrote Long Island.

Yeah, I mean, it's 15 years since I started, you know, 15 years between the two books. But I might not be here in 15 years.

Yeah, I'll be — you better get on it. Call, go ahead. I'll be 84, so that'll be lovely. I'll be fine. You got another in you. There's plenty, Colum. You describe these characters as keeping secrets. Tell us a little bit more about that.

Yeah, I think the whole point is that who knows what when. And if you have in a small town where everybody's meant to know everything, but if you stop that and say there are certain things no one knows except two people, and you keep that going, you think, 'No, surely somebody will find out.' What if no one does? And so the drama is not the drama of fierce gossip in a small town, but actually where a secret is being kept. And one person comes back from America, and therefore what she knows helps her in one way. She doesn't tell her mother some things, but then she realizes later on in the book that there are many, many things she didn't know. But one big thing.

Yeah, there was secret upon secrets. Don't I see this as a movie? Don't you?

In Ireland, you can say both Eilis and Eilish.

No, but when I was talking to Oprah, I said I was saying Eilis, and she kept saying, 'No, it's Eilish.' I go, 'No, there's no sh.' She goes, 'Gail, I've talked to the author. It's Eilish.' No, it's Eilis. It's Eilish. But in the film, in the movie, they do Eilis. And both are correct. And I'm sorry, I wish — what do you call?

I would say Eilish, but since the movie, I've started to say Eilis. So there's really no future in this. I don't know.

Okay. Had you had a milestone birthday? Just got to ask. What are the goals for the year? And she didn't have a party. I kept saying, 'You're not going to have a birthday?'

Did Gail give you a good gift? What was Gail's gift?

Yeah, but you were very happy with the way you spent your day.

We're glad that you spent this day with us. Thank you, Oprah.

Long Island is on sale now. And check out CBS Mornings.com for a reader's guide and a free excerpt from the novel. And head over to our Instagram page to find out how you can get more involved with Oprah's Book Club.