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“As they carried along and met more people Furlong did and did not know, he found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Was it possible to carry on along through all the years, the decades, through an entire life, without once being brave enough to go against what was there and yet call yourself a Christian, and face yourself in the mirror?”
Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These may be brief, but it delivers a profound impact through its depiction of 1985 Ireland during a harsh winter.
The story centres on Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant born to a young unmarried mother, who now lives with his wife Eileen and their five daughters in a community ravaged by economic hardship. Furlong, a man of integrity and compassion, struggles to balance his modest livelihood with the needs of his less fortunate customers, often at the expense of his own family's financial stability.
The story takes a gripping turn when Furlong discovers the harsh reality of the local Magdalene Laundry, run by the Catholic Church. During a routine delivery to the convent, he encounters disturbing conditions and finds a traumatised young mother, Sarah Redmond, locked in a freezing coal house. The sight of such inhumane treatment deeply affects him, setting off an internal moral struggle. Despite pressure from his wife to ignore the situation and the warnings of the community about the Church’s formidable power, Furlong wrestles with his conscience.
Keegan’s narrative exposes the grim reality of the Magdalene Laundries—institutions that exploited and abused unwed mothers under the guise of religious charity. The story serves as a powerful critique of the Catholic Church’s role in perpetuating these abuses and reflects on the broader implications of institutional cruelty and moral compromise.
Small Things Like These is a poignant and beautifully written exploration of courage and ethical responsibility. It sheds light on the darkness in Ireland's history while celebrating the strength of one man's resolve to act compassionately despite daunting odds.
At just 128 pages—it demonstrates that powerful stories can come in small packages.
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