Small Things Like These (Oprah's Book Club)
Small Things Like These is award-winning author Claire Keegan’s landmark new novel, a tale of one man’s courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family
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Readers say *Small Things Like These* by Claire Keegan is a beautifully written, poignant novella set in early 20th-century Ireland that explores mora...
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What’s it about?
Bill Furlong is a coal and timber merchant in a small town in Ireland. It is 1985 and the Catholic Church is a powerful presence in his community. As Christmas Day approaches Bill finds himself reminiscing about the past, as he struggles with questions of conscience versus faith.
What did it make me think about?
Does this story really take place in 1985?
Should I read it?
This is a beautifully written book. Claire Keegan joins a long list of Irish writers that should not be missed. She has written a revelatory character in Bill Furlong. How she manages to convey so much in 114 pages is astonishing. Even more powerful is the fact that it is loosely based on the Magdalen laundries that the Catholic Church ran in Ireland all the way up to 1996. How was that even possible? This is literary fiction at its best!
Quote-
“Always it was the same, Furlong thought; always they carried mechanically on without pause, to the next job at hand. What would life be like, he wondered, if they were given time to think and reflect over things? Might their lives be different or much the same- or would they just lose the run of themselves? Even while he’d been creaming the butter and sugar, his mind was not so much upon the here and now and on this Sunday nearing Christmas with his wife and daughters so much as on tomorrow and who owed what, and how and when he’d deliver what was ordered and what man he’d leave to which task, and how and where he’d collect what was owed- and before tomorrow was coming to an end, he knew his mind would already be working in much the same way, yet again, over the day that was to follow”.
What’s it about?
Bill Furlong is a coal and timber merchant in a small town in Ireland. It is 1985 and the Catholic Church is a powerful presence in his community. As Christmas Day approaches Bill finds himself reminiscing about the past, as he struggles with questions of conscience versus faith.
What did it make me think about?
Does this story really take place in 1985?
Should I read it?
This is a beautifully written book. Claire Keegan joins a long list of Irish writers that should not be missed. She has written a revelatory character in Bill Furlong. How she manages to convey so much in 114 pages is astonishing. Even more powerful is the fact that it is loosely based on the Magdalen laundries that the Catholic Church ran in Ireland all the way up to 1996. How was that even possible? This is literary fiction at its best!
Quote-
“Always it was the same, Furlong thought; always they carried mechanically on without pause, to the next job at hand. What would life be like, he wondered, if they were given time to think and reflect over things? Might their lives be different or much the same- or would they just lose the run of themselves? Even while he’d been creaming the butter and sugar, his mind was not so much upon the here and now and on this Sunday nearing Christmas with his wife and daughters so much as on tomorrow and who owed what, and how and when he’d deliver what was ordered and what man he’d leave to which task, and how and where he’d collect what was owed- and before tomorrow was coming to an end, he knew his mind would already be working in much the same way, yet again, over the day that was to follow”.
Lesa's recommendation.
Set in an Irish town. Connects to the Catholic laundries for single mothers. A quick read.
Keegan is primarily a short story writer, and this novella showcases her surgical precision. A spare accounting of the moral dilemma faced by an Irish tradesman and father in the mid 80s, Small Things Like These efficiently paints its small town scene and illustrates its characters’ daily lives. Ultimately I thought the moral quandary could have been explored more deeply by centering a more conflicted character, but this book made me want to read more by this author.
I think I have found a new Christmas tradition in reading this story to kick off the holiday season. Equal parts heartbreaking and inspiring, Small Things Like These is a great book to get in the Christmas spirit.
Bill Furlong is faced with a moral dilemma of taking action to save others, or being complicit in the abuse of "wayward" girls to keep his own family safe and comfortable.
This story brings to light the real life horrors of the Magdalene laundry institutions of Ireland, which inflicted punishment and abuse upon thousands of girls for over three quarters of a century, and as recent as 1998.
Be sure to check out the movie starring Cillian Murphy!
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