'Claire Keegan is mighty.' - London Review of BooksĮloquent attack on laundries, however. Them, but also because of the fear and selfishness of those who were willing to Kinds of places existed not just because of the cruelty of the people who ran The convent's activities that is chillingly mundane and brutally true. Things Like These is a gem of a slim novel about a family man facedĬaptured and affected my whole attention.

An open window, a slant of light, the gesture of a hand: These are the tools that Irish virtuoso Claire Keegan brings to her exquisite short novel.Keegan goes small to go big.' - Oprah Daily 'As in Vermeer's canvases, there's genius in the clarity of finely observed details. 'A sparse, breathtaking perfect gem of a novel.'- People Remarkable story.' - Minneapolis Star Tribune Either one bears a price.Spare and potent, this is a Mapping the path of one man's conscience, its torment and vacillation between Things Like These is a short, wrenching, thoroughly brilliant novel 'Claire Keegan.now gives us her best work yet. Presence as we are drawn into the life of an unassuming man in an unremarkable Light of a winter afternoon, mist on a river, a woman opening an oven door, aĬhild taking her father's hand: We see these things and feel their lingering Details materialize with preternatural clarity. 'This exquisite miniature of a novel somehowĭefies the gravitational pull of its grim subject to hover in a quotidian, Her deceptively simple language is pitch-perfect.'- Boston 'Keegan's precisely considered details aboutĬharacter, setting, memory, and dramatic moment create a story you will want to Small thing? As Keegan's concise, capacious new book demonstrates, little actsĬan lead to real change.'- Los Angeles Times Midst, or will we take some action against it, even if it consists of just one Shocking force of a debut.Over what would amount to a couple of chapters inĪnother novel, Keegan manages to place her characters and her readers at theĬenter of an essential human dilemma: Will we turn a blind eye to evil in our Like These, Keegan's first novel, enters the world this month with the 'For all her earlier accolades, Small Things Get two copies: one to keep, one to give.'- Washington Post Small Things Like These reminds us that the real miracle in any Inconsequential town, Keegan has carved out a profoundly moving and universal From the elements of this simple existence in an

Season's most cherished tales, until, as gently as snow falling, her littleīook accrues the unmistakable aura of a classic. One immediately senses that Keegan is breathing something vital into the 'At the opening of Small Things Like These, Weekly 'Holiday Gift Guide 2021' Selection Winner of the Orwell Prize for Political FictionĪ Chicago Public Library 'Best of the Best' of 2021 selection

Small things like these claire keegan