A review by fleeno
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

5.0

Small Things Like These is a powerful historical fiction centred on the character Bill Furlong. He works as a coal delivery man for his small town where he lives with his wife Eileen and their five children. It's days before Christmas and Furlong is delivery coal to the convent when he finds a young teen locked in the coal shed. He rescues her and before she is whisked away by the nuns the only thing he gets from her is her name - Sarah, the same as his mother's. She was an unwed mother, saved from the Magdalen Laundry by a wealth woman who allowed her to stay on as housekeeper despite her pregnancy. In the girls at the laundry, Furlong sees his mother and the future he could have had, furthermore a future his girls could suffer. Although a short novella this story covers a big topic as Furlong wrestles with what to do, knowing what is happening in the Convent. Towards the end of the book Furlong ponders: "he found himself asking 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 and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?" 

Ireland’s Magdalen Asylums were sponsored by the state and church for 'fallen women', who were essentially used for slave labour and thousands of women and babies died in these institutions. Although a short story, Keegan captures the mood and attitudes of the time perfectly. The story is not only about the laundries but also a man who is struggling with the veil being lifted and him seeing the reality of his community for first time. This is a beautifully written story about a very important history.