Foster
Ireland

Foster

by Claire Keegan

Family & Heritage Literary Fiction Classics 2010

Summary

During the summer of 1981, an unnamed young girl is sent from her crowded family home to live with relatives in rural County Wexford while her mother prepares to give birth. Quiet and observant, she arrives at the Kinsellas’ farm uncertain of what awaits her. But unlike the home she has left behind, this household offers her tenderness, attention, and a sense of belonging she has never experienced before.

As the summer unfolds, the girl discovers the transformative power of being cared for. Yet beneath the peaceful routines of farm life lies a grief the Kinsellas rarely discuss. Through small gestures, unspoken truths, and the child’s growing awareness of the adult world, Claire Keegan creates a moving portrait of childhood and the complicated bonds between parents and children. Foster is a beautifully restrained novella about the families we are born into, the love we find unexpectedly, and the lasting impact of being seen and valued.

Reviews

Login to leave a review.

No reviews yet. Be the first!

You might also like

Antarctica
Antarctica
Claire Keegan
Walk the Blue Fields
Walk the Blue Fields
Claire Keegan
Small Things Like These
Small Things Like These
Claire Keegan
So Late in the Day
So Late in the Day
Claire Keegan
Country
Ireland
Europe
About the author
Claire Keegan
Claire Keegan

Claire Keegan is an acclaimed Irish writer born in 1968 who grew up on a farm near the border of County Wicklow and County Wexford. She studied English and Political Science at Loyola University in New Orleans before completing postgraduate studies in creative writing at the University of Wales and Trinity College Dublin. Known for her meticulous prose and emotionally powerful short fiction, she published her debut collection, Antarctica, in 1999, followed by Walk the Blue Fields (2007) and the novella Foster (2010). Her later novella, Small Things Like These (2021), was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. Keegan’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages, earning her international recognition for exploring the moral complexities of ordinary lives. She is widely regarded as one of Ireland’s most accomplished contemporary literary voices.

View author page
Details
Published
2010
Author
Claire Keegan