Colm Toibin's novel "Brooklyn" is about the story of a young woman stuck in between her life in Brooklyn and her hometown in Ireland. The protagonist Eilis Lacey had been married secretly to Tony where she has a job in Brooklyn. But when she had to go to Ireland for the funeral of her sister Rose, she was led to stay longer and even had a brief relationship with a man named Jim. But when her secret marriage was on the verge of being revealed, she decided to tell her mother about Tony, left a letter for Jim and went back to Brooklyn.
The statement that is mentioned in the question<em> "And we are worked off our feet"</em> is from the part where Miss Kelly had called on Eilis to offer her a job in her shop as a bookkeeper. By this implication, Miss Kelly meant that her shop is busy and that they have a lot of customer.
