A review by cozyreadings
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

4.75

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

Picked this up because I saw the trailer for the movie and was intrigued.

This is an absolute gem. Reading as if it's a sweet Christmas story, it actually packs a big punch, looking at human nature and the daily life of a father of 5 daughters. It also, and most importantly, looks at how corrupt and hypocritical church can be, and how one good deed and one good person can change the course of someone's life. How good morals are taught, and how a God fearing town can ignore those in need, going to mass every Sunday and believing that they are good people.

It's based on the Irish Magdalene laundries, which were institutions ran by Catholic orders "housing" (can't really call it housing if you know what those poor girls went through) girls who had "fallen from Grace". The book manages to include a lot in a very short amount of pages, posing the question: would you do what Bill did, doing a good thing no matter the consequences, or would you turn a blind eye?