As Christmas approaches in the winter of 1985, Bill Furlong finds himself increasingly troubled by a sense of dissatisfaction. 30, 2021 An Irishman uncovers abuse at a Magdalen laundry in this compact and gripping novel. All of which is to say, it is utterly unmissable. SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE by Claire Keegan RELEASE DATE: Nov. Small Things Like These is another minor miracle from Keegan, a book that is nostalgic, touching, brutal and angry. The monumental power of Claire Keegan is that she can create these cuckoo-clock narratives where every single word seems to be a necessary contribution to the overall mechanism of the novel. As soon as you pick the novel up, it’s all over. It is also a touching Christmas tale, genuinely reminiscent of the festive stories of O Henry and Charles Dickens a novel that has been seeped in sherry and served by the fireside. The novel isn’t just an eloquent attack on these laundries, however. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him - and encounters the complicit silences of a small community controlled by the Church. Keegan is clever to funnel the novel’s perspective through Furlong. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces his busiest season. However, Keegan has never been a writer to waste a word. Some may be disappointed to discover that Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan’s first novel in more than a decade, is a mere 114 pages long.
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