Small Things like These

Small Things Like These takes place in New Ross, Ireland during the winter of 1985. Bill Furlong, a coal merchant with five daughters, runs his business while preparing for the Christmas season in this close-knit Catholic community. The story centers on Furlong's encounters with a local convent that operates a training school and laundry service. His routine coal deliveries lead him to witness concerning situations behind the convent walls, forcing him to confront difficult moral choices. Set against the backdrop of Ireland's Magdalen Laundries system, the novel depicts a man grappling with his position in a community where church influence touches every aspect of daily life. The weight of his own past as the child of an unwed mother adds complexity to his present-day observations. This concentrated narrative examines how ordinary individuals navigate between personal conscience and societal pressures, exploring themes of moral responsibility and the true meaning of Christian values.

Readers describe this as a quiet, intimate story that packs emotional weight into its brief length. Many note they finished it in one sitting. Readers appreciated: - The atmospheric depiction of 1980s Ireland during Christmas - Clean, precise prose with no wasted words - The moral choices faced by the main character - Historical context about Magdalene Laundries Common criticisms: - Too short for the price ($20-25 for 116 pages) - Some found the ending abrupt - Desire for more character development - "Could have been a longer novel" Ratings across platforms: Goodreads: 4.2/5 (86,000+ ratings) Amazon: 4.4/5 (11,000+ ratings) LibraryThing: 4.3/5 (1,200+ ratings) Notable reader comments: "Like a perfectly crafted short story" - Goodreads review "Beautiful but left me wanting more" - Amazon review "Important story that needed to be told" - LibraryThing review

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🌟 The novel draws inspiration from Ireland's Magdalene Laundries, which operated from 1765 to 1996, where an estimated 30,000 women were confined and forced to work in church-run institutions. 🌟 At just 114 pages, "Small Things Like These" is the shortest novel ever to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize (2022). 🌟 Author Claire Keegan wrote the first draft of this novel during the COVID-19 lockdown, completing it in just seven weeks. 🌟 The book's Christmas 1985 setting coincides with the year when Ireland's last Magdalene Laundry in Waterford closed its doors. 🌟 Claire Keegan grew up on a farm in County Wicklow, Ireland, and wrote her first story at age 17, drawing from the rich oral storytelling tradition of rural Ireland.