Saturday, August 29, 2026

2026 #28 Small Things Like These (Keegan)

 

Small Things Like TheseSmall Things Like These by Claire Keegan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The writing here is beautiful. Keegan manages to do so much with just a few words. There's little in the way of hyberbole or superlatives, but there is a clean rhythm that is almost poetic and draws you in. It is a touching story, but also relatable in how most of us face moral quandaries at one point or another. Bill Furlong is just a coal merchant delivering fuel to a Magdalene convent laundry in Ireland during the 1980s. But over just a few pages (it is a novella), we start to walk with him. We feel what he feels, and we see what he sees. You can almost feel the knotted tension forming in the pit of his stomach as he grapples with what he's witnessed at the convent. This is a very good book about the "small things" that can be opportunities to test or own moral courage.

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Challenges 
2026 Reading Goals 28/60

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