Small Things Like These

By: Claire Keegan

Narrated by: Aidan Kelly

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING CILLIAN MURPHY

A SUNDAY TIMES 'TOP 5 NOVELS OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY'

A SUNDAY TIMES AND IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER

A TOP 5 IRISH TIMES 100 BEST IRISH BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

A NEW YORK TIMES 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY


WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE AND THE KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE, THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE AND THE IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE DALKEY LITERARY AWARDS

'Exquisite.' Damon Galgut
'Masterly.' The Times
'Miraculous.' Herald
'Astonishing.' Colm Tóibín
'Stunning.' Sunday Independent
'Absolutely beautiful.' Douglas Stuart

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.

Claire Keegan's book Small Things Like These was a Sunday Times Bestseller w/c 05-11-2022

©2022 Claire Keegan (P)2022 Faber & Faber

A very good read

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? A simple story that could belong to one of us ordinary people.

Stunned again

A world of trouble does in fact face all those who act bravely and those who do not. The novelist strikes vivid fear in all of us who have seen small things like these and acted one way or the other. Spellbinding story. The scene between the Mother Superior and the main character is so full of restrained malevolence, I could hardly breathe. Sadly, so many of us have faced such people amongst us. Powerful people - and we lose all agency. Read this.

Magnificent

A beautifully written and excellently narrated story. Subtle and nuanced but incredibly powerful and moving.

What's the point if we don't help each other?

A novella, and such a powerful one. Simply and beautifully told - you don't get a sense that you're in 1985. But yes, there story is essentially set in modern times. As the story unfolds, it certainly doesn't feel that way - it feels like something out of 1885. And there, in our time, something atrocious - the Magdalene Laundries - was happening in plain sight and no one did a thing about it. In this story, one plain man, a good man, asks - what's the point of being alive if we don't help each other? And where everyone else chooses to look the other way, he lends a hand and helps - well knowing that hardship will come at him and his family from every side once he helps. It's a great read - I read the paperback first, then wanted to listen to it, too. Highly recommended.

Exquisite writing

Claire Keegens writing is exquisite, diamond Sharp, not a superfluous word. You live in the story and the characters are beautifully realized as well as Irish life in 1947. The book is not long but because of her writing one feels the satisfaction and joy of having been utterly absorbed by a much longer novel.