Small Things Like These: Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2022
Oct 2021 · Faber & Faber
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About this ebook
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING CILLIAN MURPHY
A SUNDAY TIMES 'TOP 5 NOVELS OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY'
A SUNDAY TIMES AND IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER
A TOP 5 IRISH TIMES 100 BEST IRISH BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
A NEW YORK TIMES 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE AND THE KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE, THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE AND THE IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE DALKEY LITERARY AWARDS
'Exquisite.' Damon Galgut
'Masterly.' The Times
'Miraculous.' Herald
'Astonishing.' Colm Tóibín
'Stunning.' Sunday Independent
'Absolutely beautiful.' Douglas Stuart
It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces into his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him - and encounters the complicit silences of a people controlled by the Church.
Claire Keegan's book Small Things Like These was a Sunday Times Bestseller w/c 05-11-2022
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⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'G ripping and very moving and thought-provoking ... brilliantly done, but also softly and slowly. You'll never regret reading this book, but it will haunt you for ever after.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I haven't loved a book for so long. This has changed it. Every word counted. Moral, heartfelt & a beautiful read.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'This is a beautifully written story, both simple and profound. Set at Christmas, it is, in essence, an exploration of the best and the worst of what it is to be human. A stunning achievement.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A remarkable novel - short, succinct, moving. I read it in one sitting early on a Sunday morning before anybody else was up.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'This book needs to sit and settle with the reader after it's read. Much lies here within what seems a simple tale. It strikes to the heart.'
A SUNDAY TIMES 'TOP 5 NOVELS OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY'
A SUNDAY TIMES AND IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER
A TOP 5 IRISH TIMES 100 BEST IRISH BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
A NEW YORK TIMES 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE AND THE KERRY GROUP IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE, THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE AND THE IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR AT THE DALKEY LITERARY AWARDS
'Exquisite.' Damon Galgut
'Masterly.' The Times
'Miraculous.' Herald
'Astonishing.' Colm Tóibín
'Stunning.' Sunday Independent
'Absolutely beautiful.' Douglas Stuart
It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces into his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him - and encounters the complicit silences of a people controlled by the Church.
Claire Keegan's book Small Things Like These was a Sunday Times Bestseller w/c 05-11-2022
-----
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'G ripping and very moving and thought-provoking ... brilliantly done, but also softly and slowly. You'll never regret reading this book, but it will haunt you for ever after.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I haven't loved a book for so long. This has changed it. Every word counted. Moral, heartfelt & a beautiful read.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'This is a beautifully written story, both simple and profound. Set at Christmas, it is, in essence, an exploration of the best and the worst of what it is to be human. A stunning achievement.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A remarkable novel - short, succinct, moving. I read it in one sitting early on a Sunday morning before anybody else was up.'
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'This book needs to sit and settle with the reader after it's read. Much lies here within what seems a simple tale. It strikes to the heart.'
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING CILLIAN MURPHY
A SUNDAY TIMES 'TOP 5 NOVELS OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY'
A SUNDAY TIMES AND IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER
A TOP 5 IRISH TIMES 100 BEST IRISH BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
A NEW YORK TIMES 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRI...
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Ratings and reviews
54 reviews
Elisabet Antons
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November 8, 2024
Small Things Like These is a really powerful and thought-provoking book. It's set in Ireland in the 1980s and tells the story of a man who discovers a secret that could change his life forever. The writing is beautiful and the characters are really well-developed. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
Robbie Devil
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January 30, 2026
Minimalism is only worthy of note when executed with the kind of profundity I can appreciate. This slender novella says a great deal with very little—rather like how a single glance from me can halt a superfkuous debate at a committee meeting. The gloom of the Irish town and its theme of quiet moral courage resonates with the personal—and unseen—campaigns I wage for my child’s education. Brief, sharp, and memorable. Above the commonplace, finally.
Harry Carson
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December 14, 2021
A short novel/novella. 124 pages. The first half is a slow and gentle introduction to the place, the people and a hint of the future. The second half is a slow and contemplative following of Bill's journey. The end is perfect. And it's timely in more than one way. Bought three more as gifts. An evening better spent than watching shouty people in a dysfunctional street/square. Better spent than watching/listening to celebs of very doubtful talent taking time off from selfies There ya go. Mr grumpy strikes. My best purchase this season apart from a delicious Manor House cake.
About the author
Claire Keegan's stories are translated into more than thirty languages. Antarctica won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Walk the Blue Fields won the Edge Hill Prize for the finest collection of stories published in the British Isles. Foster won the Davy Byrnes Award and in 2020 was chosen by The Times as one of the top fifty works of fiction to be published in the twenty-first century. Small Things Like These was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Rathbones Folio Prize, awarded for the best work of literature, regardless of form, to be published in the English language. It won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, the Ambassadors' Prize and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
Claire Keegan's stories are translated into more than thirty languages. Antarctica won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Walk the Blue Fields won the Edge Hill Prize for the finest collection of stories published in the British Isles. Foster won the Davy Byrnes Award and in 2020 was chosen b...
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