I know some readers see it as a story of a simply heroic character. It’s the story of a coalman named Bill Furlong who lives with his wife and five daughters in a small town, set in the weeks coming up to Christmas…I can’t now help thinking of Flannery O’ Connor, who said that a story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is! What would you say the book is about? Love, kindness, duty - something else? “Although the book features one of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries, you have said elsewhere that it is not about the Laundries. A longer novel would not have suited his personality' - Read here : With The Booker Prize - 'My central character isn’t someone who says much. I kind of feel this story speaks to some shared trauma or guilt, how we tell stories and remember the past and acknowledge the present.Īnyway, I really like her writing and because of her I’ve definitely stumbled into some fairy fort of Irish writing and it’ll be a long time before I find my way out, almost like a spell. One of my favourite stories of hers is from her collection Walk The Blue Fields, of a writer who has rented the German writer Heinrich Böll’s former house on Achill Island. She receives a visit from a German academic who becomes incredibly persistent and almost stalkerish, who wants to see where Böll wrote. I hadn’t really expressed an interest in Irish writing or writers but Keegan definitely kicked that off for me, perhaps in a similar way I became obsessed with German writers - I find there is a giant paradox when it comes to Irish identity (like all, really) and I like that.

What I liked about Small Things Like These, and actually her other stories, is the way she depicts masculinity, especially a tender kind and that’s quite refreshing although perhaps not intentional.

She doesn’t publish often but when she does, she seems to create tidal waves. Known for her short fiction and stories, her writing captures whole worlds and emotions in words that are just enough but leave you hunting for more. Honestly, I hadn’t heard of Keegan until her latest publication Small Things Like These, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2022. I overheard a customer say that Keegan’s books are like miniature form novels of Ian McEwan and although I think it’s appropriate to liken her writing to that calibre, I think her work is outstanding in its own right and she doesn’t require a comparison to McEwan, you know?

By Demi Cox, Bookseller Unity Books Auckland

Claire keegan new book