Claire Keegan

This novella is wonderful in conjuring up small town life in Ireland - and family life too: though the time portrayed seems rather earlier than the 1980s in which the book is allegedly set. Bill Keegan is married, the father of 5 girls, and a successful coal merchant. He was also illegitimate, and extremely unusual in that his mother was able to keep him and bring him up, thanks to the generosity of her wealthy employer. In the same town there is a convent, a convent where 'common, unmarried girls' can go to have, and then relinquish their babies. And delivering there one day, Furlong discovers a young woman in distress, longing to see her baby. Will he act on what he sees? Furlong is a nuanced, rounded character, conflicted, and just a bit different from his fellows because of his upbringing, though he's also a largely happy family man, deeply proud of his daughters. This book explores the conflicted feelings he wrestles with one Christmas. It was written in response to the public outcry about the Magdalen laundries, where the Catholic church - and the state - had young pregnant girls incarcerated during 18th to 20th centuries.… (mais)

Ihave recently fallen in love with Claire Keegan’s short stories! This collection contains her earliest published works. Some of the stories are strange and leave me wondering what the point of such grotesqueness was. More than once, I flipped back through the story to skim it again so that I can understand the action better. Consistently, stories have a twist at the very end that makes each word of an entire meandering piece come together in perfect sense.

Some stories are gothic in that their absurdity drives their appeal. Often, each tale contains an element of dark horror, too. These carefully crafted stories are not for the feint of heart. No haunting topic is skipped: Murder, suicide, abuse, and affairs are all covered here. They’re ripe for entertainment about a scary world.

I prefer her recent work Small Things Like These for a more serious subject, but this collection shares all the narrative twists endemic throughout her work. It’s no surprise, 25 years after her debut, that Keegan’s work is well-read the world over!… (mais)