Small Things Like These
Ireland

Small Things Like These

by Claire Keegan

Society & Class Historical Fiction Literary Fiction 2021

Summary

It is 1985 in a small Irish town, and coal merchant Bill Furlong is preparing for the busiest weeks of the year. A devoted husband and father of five daughters, he has built a modest but stable life through hard work. Yet as Christmas approaches, a delivery to the local convent reveals something deeply troubling: girls are being confined there under the authority of the Catholic Church, their suffering concealed behind respectable walls.

The discovery forces Bill to confront uncomfortable memories of his own childhood and the kindness that once helped him survive. In a community where the Church holds enormous power and silence protects those in authority, speaking out could jeopardise his livelihood and his family’s security. With remarkable economy and emotional depth, Small Things Like These explores complicity, moral courage, and the quiet choices that define a person’s character. It is a powerful story about the cost of doing what is right when looking away would be easier.

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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.

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Details
Published
2021
Author
Claire Keegan