Claire Keegan

Destined to be a modern classic from "an original and a canonical presence in Irish fiction" (Colm Tóibín), Small Things Like These is Claire Keegan's landmark new novel, the tale of one man's courage -- and a remarkable portrait of love and family It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man, who is father to five girls, faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church. Already a bestseller in France and certain to be read worldwide for generations to come, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting and inspiring story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically celebrated and iconic writers.

Small Things Like These

Lotte Tielemans

Climbing the street towards his own front door with the barefooted girl and the box of shoes, his fear more than outweighed every other feeling but in his foolish heart he not only hoped but legitimately believed that they would manage.

The worst was yet to come, he knew. Already he could feel a world of trouble waiting for him behind the next door, but the worst that could have happened was also already behind him; the thing not done, which could have been -which he would lave had to live with for the rest of his life. 

…he found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror? 

Anna Jasmine

“He thought of Mrs. Wilson, of her daily kindnesses, of how she had corrected and encouraged him, of the small things she had said and done and had refused to do and say and what she must have known, the things which, when added up, amounted to a life.”

rain/anagha

was there any point in being alive without helping one another?

Francesca 

The worst was yet to come, he knew. Already he could feel a world of trouble waiting for him behind the next door, but the worst that could have happened was also already behind him; the thing not done, which could have been - which he would have had to live with for the rest of his life.

ayoni

It was easy to understand why women feared men with their physical strength and lust and social powers, but women, with their canny intuitions, were much deeper: they could predict what was to come long before it came, dream it overnight, and read your mind.

Macy HB

Of the small things she had said and done and had refused to do and say and what she must have known, the things which, when added up, amounted to a life.

Was there any point in being alive without helping one another?

Why were the things that were closest so often the hardest to see?

It seemed both proper and at the same time deeply unfair that so much of life was left to chance.

‘If you want to get on in life, there’s things you have to ignore, so you can keep on.’

He was touching forty but didn’t feel himself to be getting anywhere or making any kind of headway and could not but sometimes wonder what the days were for.

‘Do you not go back over things, Eileen? Or worry? I sometimes wish I had your mind.’

And wasn’t it sweet to be where you were and let it remind you of the past for once, despite the upset, instead of always looking on into the mechanics of the days and the trouble ahead, which might never come.

What would life be like, he wondered, if they were given time to think and reflect over things?

But it cut him, all the same, to see one of his own so upset by the sight of what other children craved and he could not help but wonder if she’d be brave enough or able for what the world had in store.

Emma Hak-Kovacs

The worst was yet to come, he knew. Already he could feel a world of trouble waiting for him behind the next door, but the worst that could have happened was also already behind him; the thing not done, which could have been–which he would have had to live with for the rest of his life.

The air was sharper now, without his coat, and he felt his self-preservation and courage battling against each other and thought, once more, of taking the girl to the priest’s house–but several times, already, his mind had gone on ahead, and met him there…

Outside, the streets were slick with frost, and his boots, on the pavement, sounded unusually loud, it being so early on a Sunday. When he reached the yard gate and found the padlock seized with frost, he felt the strain of being alive and wished he had stayed in bed, but he made himself carry on and crossed to a neighbour’s house, whose light was on.

***PRE-ORDER NOW*** THE NEW NOVEL FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF FOSTER, ANTARCTICA AND WALK THE BLUE FIELDS *'This is a tale of courage and compassion, of good sons and vulnerable young mothers. Absolutely beautiful.'-Douglas Stuart (Winner of the Booker Prize 2020)* *'Marvellous-exact and icy and loving all at once.'-Sarah Moss* *'A haunting, hopeful masterpiece.'-Sinéad Gleeson* It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces into his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him - and encounters the complicit silences of a people controlled by the Church. The long-awaited new work from the author of Foster, Small Things Like These is an unforgettable story of hope, quiet heroism and tenderness. '[Claire Keegan] creates luminous effects with spare material, so every line seems to be a lesson in the perfect deployment of both style and emotion.' Hilary Mantel

Helen 

He thought of Mrs Wilson, of her daily kind- nesses, of how she had corrected and encouraged him, of the small things she had said and done and had refused to do and say and what she must have known, the things which, when added up, amounted to a life. 

As they carried on along and met more people Furlong did and did not know, he found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?

Crossing the river, his eyes again fell on the stout-black water flowing darkly along-and a part of him envied the Barrow's know- ledge of her course, how easily the water followed its incorrigible way, so freely to the open sea. 

It’s all the small things that make a collection of a life and who you are. 

Ashley Denktas

this should be required holiday season reading

abi a

Very timely. “…was there any point in being alive without helping one another?”

Tom Koss

really liked it. short read and easy to get into. except i felt like for the book’s subject being about the laundries, they only brushed by it and beat around the bush a bit?

the_basis_

Es geht um einen Kohlenverkäufer, der in Irland mit seiner Frau und fünf Töchtern lebt. Er hat im Kloster etwas gesehen, das er nicht in Ordnung fand, und diese Sache geht ihm nicht mehr aus dem Kopf. Man erfährt viel über die damalige Lage in Irland, und die Autorin lässt uns tief in die Gedanken des Mannes eintauchen, inklusive tiefgründiger Überlegungen über das Leben.

Was ich so kraftvoll fand, war, dass das, was im Kloster passiert ist, tatsächlich früher der Fall war. Viele Menschen haben einfach weggeschaut und sich nicht getraut, etwas zu sagen oder zu handeln, was vielen das Leben gekostet hat. Das Buch vermittelt eine tiefgründige Botschaft.

Ich mochte den Schreibstil sehr. Man konnte sich in die Gefühle und Gedanken des Mannes hineinversetzen. Außerdem ist es ein gemütliches Winterbuch. Sehr zu empfehlen.

Asmae

Es geht um einen Kohlenverkäufer, der in Irland mit seiner Frau und fünf Töchtern lebt. Er hat im Kloster etwas gesehen, das er nicht in Ordnung fand, und diese Sache geht ihm nicht mehr aus dem Kopf. Man erfährt viel über die damalige Lage in Irland, und die Autorin lässt uns tief in die Gedanken des Mannes eintauchen, inklusive tiefgründiger Überlegungen über das Leben.

Was ich so kraftvoll fand, war, dass das, was im Kloster passiert ist, tatsächlich früher der Fall war. Viele Menschen haben einfach weggeschaut und sich nicht getraut, etwas zu sagen oder zu handeln, was vielen das Leben gekostet hat. Das Buch vermittelt eine tiefgründige Botschaft.

Ich mochte den Schreibstil sehr. Man konnte sich in die Gefühle und Gedanken des Mannes hineinversetzen. Außerdem ist es ein gemütliches Winterbuch. Sehr zu empfehlen.

"Quiet heroism" is a wonderful way to describe this novel. I am in awe of how this novel was written—short, yet it was enough for the story to be delivered to the readers. Bill Furlong's heart is just so pure that it would make you believe that humanity still exists.

Some of the notes I've highlighted to be remembered:

- "He could not help but wonder if she'd be brave enough or able for what the world had in store."

- "And wasn't it sweet to be where you were and let it remind you of the past for once, despite the upset, instead of always looking on into the mechanics of the days and the trouble ahead, which might never come."

- "Why were things that were closest so often the hardest to see?"

Kath

"Quiet heroism" is a wonderful way to describe this novel. I am in awe of how this novel was written—short, yet it was enough for the story to be delivered to the readers. Bill Furlong's heart is just so pure that it would make you believe that humanity still exists.

Some of the notes I've highlighted to be remembered:

- "He could not help but wonder if she'd be brave enough or able for what the world had in store."

- "And wasn't it sweet to be where you were and let it remind you of the past for once, despite the upset, instead of always looking on into the mechanics of the days and the trouble ahead, which might never come."

- "Why were things that were closest so often the hardest to see?"

Keegan confronts unfathomable truth through the relatable mind of Bill Furlong. She brings light to the hidden crimes of Magdalene Laundries; approaching the convent alongside Bill, the reader is both innocent and uncertain of how to handle such a harrowing reality. Her characters are honest and humane; the story is shocking and factual; the execution of her writing is nothing but flawless. Reading Small Things Like These, picks up the reader and places them in a past life - maybe that is why it conjured a nostalgic feel for me - the setting is something both alien and familiar. 

Anya Tindale

i read this because this will be a new movie coming soon with cillian murphy! quite a quick and quiet read where not too much happens on the surface, but a lot happens within bill furlong's mind. i actually had to google to see whether the ending should be construed as positive or negative haha i think we are just in such a "doom and gloom" kind of mindset these days that i had to think twice about it. in general it's so interesting to tell this story from a man's perspective, but the story quickly reveals why bill is the perfect man for the job. his history somewhat mirrors what goes on in the convent where he lives, except he recognizes how circumstances made him lucky while others suffer, and that gives him the perspective needed to see right from wrong. it's interesting how the women he approaches warn him from getting involved; i don't take this as a moral failure of these women, but just an insight into the ways they've been socialized not to rock the boat, because the threat of this possibly happening to them is very real in comparison to bill. i really like stories about morality, so this gave me a lot to think about! i wish there was more!

lucia

Regan Martin

A fictional snapshot into the sadness of the Irish Magdalen laundries in the 80s. A well written tidbit that weaves anecdotal stories of pregnant young women and the variable perils they faced (not so long ago!) under the watchful eye of the Catholic Church. 

Jacqui Spears

Bill Furlong unico cishet che nn verrà separato al muro…

Cédric Yorke

Gelaine Trinidad

I'm speechless. Wow. 
New Christmas Classic.

So very short but deep and vibrant. It grabbed me, I sat and read all in one go.

Beatrix

Mat Connor

Between Small Things Like These and Foster, Claire Keegan is becoming one of my favorite authors. She writes these perfect little novels set in Ireland that both end a little sooner than you expect or want, but in hindsight you see that she had the wisdom to end her stories at the exact perfect spot. Most authors wouldn’t have the discipline to end her stories when she does. They would be too tempted to follow the conflict set up in the final moments.

You will probably tear up at the endings of these novellas, but Keegan never resorts to sentimentality. She has a special gift. 

I had never heard of the Magdalene Laundries before picking this up. It’s a horrible piece of history. It was an institution (Protestant and later mostly Catholic) that took in and imprisoned what they called “Fallen Women.” Unmarried mothers, daughters of unmarried mothers, former sex workers, women with special needs, inmates from psychiatric institutions and jails, victims of rape and sexual assault, and even just young women who were seen as “too flirtatious” and needed rehabilitation. These vulnerable women were sent to these institutions to be “reformed” but were forced into unpaid labor and abused by nuns for violating moral codes. The last laundry closed in 1996. They are still finding mass unmarked graves of babies and children who died at the laundries.

Bill Furlong, our protagonist, could have been one of these babies, but Keegan tells us early on how he was spared this fate:

Furlong had come from nothing. Less than nothing, some might say. His mother, at the age of sixteen, had fallen pregnant while working as a domestic for Mrs Wilson, the Protestant widow who lived in the big house a few miles outside of town. When his mother’s trouble became known, and her people made it clear that they’d have no more to do with her, Mrs Wilson, instead of giving his mother her walking papers, told her she should stay on, and keep her work. On the morning Furlong was born, it was Mrs Wilson who had his mother taken into hospital, and had them brought home. It was the first of April, 1946, and some said the boy would turn out to be a fool.

Bill Furlong is now a family man with 5 daughters. He’s a coal merchant and owns his own business that was started from a generous donation by Mrs Wilson, his mother’s employer and savior. His life isn’t without sadness—he’s troubled by never knowing who his father was and asks people in town if they knew his father’s identity—but he recognizes his good fortune. 

One early morning while delivering an order to his local convent he accidently meets a young woman at one of these laundries and becomes troubled at her condition. He’s warned off from making any noise about what he’s seen. He can either let this woman suffer in silence or he can offer her the kindness Mrs Wilson offered to his own mother when she was in need. In an ignorant society like Bill’s, that will talk and wonder why a married man would associate himself with one of these women, he must decide whether to be comfortable or to be courageous. 

Claire Keegan is too subtle to say this directly, but I think she makes the argument for a moral position that I believe strongly in, which is that vulnerable people (Sick, Poor, Distressed) often have no energy other than to get through their day and that it’s the moral responsibility of the healthy and well-off to offer them whatever support they can. She makes the case how these little and large moments of kindness and empathy add up to a rich life.

Tip: If you have Spotify Premium you can listen to the 2-hour audiobook of this for free. The audiobook is great because it’s read by an Irish speaker. I was so moved by this book that I rushed out this morning to get a physical copy.

Molly M

'Absolutely Beautiful'--Douglas Stuart, Author of Shuggie Bain

Powerful little book exploring a part of Irish history I knew nothing about.

Molly Bridge

going to be thinking about the last few pages for a long time

Teresa Bonifácio

My first book from Claire Keegan. 
It’s a small book and it must be a very easy to ready book, unless you’re working 24/7 like me these past couple of weeks and just took more time to finish it. 
I really loved it and I loved how you get all of these small details throughout the book and only at the end you get the bigger picture. Even though it’s a small book, it had so much inside of it.

painted a detailed picture about something i hadn't learned about yet: magdalen laundries in Ireland

donna 

such a nice short read! i really adore claire keegan's writing so much, there is something magical about the way even the simplest things in everyday life being described as if it's a special thing, and i absolutely love that. the story is a good surprise honestly. the only reason i didn't give this a 5 star is because it lacks explanation about the convent girls' background and what are the nuns up to.. i know the tradition in religion is one thing but i feel there is something darker happening. should've been a great detail honestly. 

allison chen

not what i was expecting...pleasantly surprising.

Small Things Like These

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