An important book. ( )

Bill Furlong is a coal merchant in an Irish town, and busier than ever as the Christmas season approaches and the weather gets colder. Furlong‘s teenaged mother was a servant at the home of a wealthy widow. When she became pregnant, Mrs Wilson kept her on in her position and encouraged her to keep the child at the manor as well. Now a married man with children of his own, Furlong had a great appreciation for the start he had thanks to the kindness of one person. So, when he discovers something disturbing when he goes to deliver coal at the local convent school, he struggles with whether to intervene, especially given the power the Church wields in this community.

Gosh but Keegan packs a lot into a small volume! There is not a wasted word or extraneous thought. Furlong’s inner struggle is evident in the way he behaves and the things he thinks about as he walks the streets of town on a snowy evening. When he makes his decision, he acts on it, deliberately, quietly, resolutely. He is confident he is in the right, and that gives him some comfort despite the possible (probable) consequences. ( )

A shameful episode from Irish history receives searing treatment in Claire Keegan’s brief but powerful novel, Small Things Like These. In the weeks leading up to Christmas 1985, successful coal merchant William Furlong is gripped by a strange and unaccustomed malaise. The feeling is strong but mysterious because Bill should be content with his life. Approaching middle age, he has established himself as a respected member of the community in the rural village of New Ross. Furlong is financially secure and married to Eileen. They have five young daughters. By all accounts the Furlong household is a happy one. But Bill’s personal history has left him with questions. In 1946, at sixteen, his mother became pregnant. The girl, rejected by her own family, was kept on as a live-in maid by kindly Mrs. Wilson, a Protestant widow who, with no children of her own, assumed a central role in Bill’s education and upbringing, especially following the sudden death of Bill’s mother when he was only twelve. Bill never learned who his father was and throughout his youth lived with the stigma of being born out of wedlock. For his entire life, the mystery of his father’s identity has weighed upon his mind, but more so recently because he expects that very soon his daughters will have questions of their own regarding their grandfather. As part of his delivery route Bill visits a local convent, which also runs a girls’ school and laundry business. Here he inadvertently makes a troubling discovery. He does what he believes is right to rectify an uncomfortable situation. But when he collects his payment from the mother superior, her chilly response to what he thought was a simple act of kindness makes it clear to him that he should keep what he’s witnessed and any questions to himself. These days the history of Ireland’s Magdalene laundries (also called asylums) is well known. It was a network of church-run institutions operated almost as prisons, in which “fallen women” and girls whose families had disowned them or were otherwise without support or resources were incarcerated and kept in a state of slavery. In Keegan’s story Bill does not fully comprehend the implications of what he has seen, only that the terror he witnessed is real. It makes him want to act, which he later does, despite the risk of perilous consequences. Keegan implies that because the church was such a powerful and omnipotent presence in the community, for close to 200 years people turned a blind eye to the suffering taking place almost on their doorsteps. The archaic rhythms of Keegan’s prose are lulling, but don’t be fooled. The book’s message is devastating. ( )

Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize!

Bill Furlong , coal and timber merchant lives with his family , wife Eileen and five daughters in a small Irish town. It is 1985 and though local businesses are facing an economic downturn, Bill is doing well enough for himself and his family to be comfortable if not affluent. In the days leading to Christmas, the brutally cold weather keeps him busy with work filling orders around his little town.

On his delivery route he arrives at Good Shepherd Convent that runs a home for unwed mothers and a laundry (Magdalen laundry) and witnesses an incident of abuse. Born to an unwed mother and raised in the guardianship of her kind employer, Bill is sympathetic to the plight of the girls whose situation is similar to his mother’s and grateful for the kindness of the Mrs. Wilson who never judged him or his late mother. He realizes that whatever goes in in the those facilities is not a secret to the locals but given the link to the church and school (where his own daughters also attend) and the deep seated influence of the church in the lives of the local community, people choose to look the other way and not engage in any action that would go against the church. Now he faces a moral dilemma – should he do what his heart says and be ready to face whatever repercussions might follow or should he follow the lead of his fellow townspeople and choose to ignore the obvious?

Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These is a beautiful and heart touching novella that emphasizes the importance of human kindness and consideration for others. Powerful and thought provoking, this short novella will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading. I'm glad that this was my Christmas read.

I have to admit that I didn’t know much about Ireland’s Magdalen laundries before reading this story. I was heartbroken on reading about the plight of those young girls and the children that were born in those facilities. I can only hope that some of them may have found kindness in people like Bill in a society that was in the most part unkind and unwilling to help.

“As they carried 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?” ( )

Everyone I know has recommended Small Things Like These and I was thinking I would read it as part of my Christmas reads. But, I needed an audio book to listen to as I gardened this morning and it showed up. What can I say? Just a quiet, bittersweet story of love and hope and, while it sounds cliched, the true meaning of Christmas. Bill Furlong has built a solid life for himself and his family despite not having a father. He is a thoughtful man who wants to understand the larger themes of the world, including helping those less fortunate than him. When he discovers the injustices at the heart of the local convent, a Magdalene laundry for unwed mothers, he follows his heart even though he knows the penalties may be great. Author Claire Keegan dedicates the book to all those young woman forced to work and then relinquish their babies.