Welcome, friend! Holidays are around the corner for some of us while others have already started to relax. On this Christmas Eve, I want to share a short book that is set around this time of the year. Small Things Like These was featured on the Goodreads booklist, 152 Titles to Help You Pick Your Next Read by Page Count, and I am so glad I picked it up! It took me to a time where technology was not part of the everyday and houses still needed coal for warmth and heat. Outside of Fantasy, I rarely pick up books where life is so different from my present and I highly recommend this one in this season. Read on for my review!
It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.
Already an international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.
Small Things Like These – Review
Small Things Like These follows Furlong, a middle-aged man with five daughters. The holidays are around the corner and he is working hard delivering coal to all those who need it. Furlong thinks about the life he has, the life his daughters will lead as they grow. As the father of girls, he is uniquely aware of the world of men that they will be walking in and he feels for them. As a new parent, this struck me deeply. I often find myself wondering what kind of world my child will inherit and whether I will be brave enough, like Furlong, to stand up when it counts.
The story is rooted in history — Ireland’s Magdalen laundry houses concealed, incarcerated and forced many girls and women into labour. According to the author’s note, these institutions were run and financed by the Catholic Church in concert with the Irish State.
The heart of the story comes when Furlong visits a nunnery and encounters young women living in heartbreaking conditions. He is haunted by their suffering, particularly a girl named Sarah, and feels the weight of his own past. He was the son of an unmarried mother, saved only because of the kindness of another woman.
“What most tormented him was not so much how she’d been left in the coal shed or the stance of the Mother Superior; the worst was how the girl had been handled while he was present and how he’d allowed that”
Small Things Like These
His shame at not intervening pushes him to ask what kind of man, father, and Christian he truly is. As he continues deliveries of coal around town, doing all the chores as the holiday season approaches, he thinks about the kind of person he is and who he wants to be at this age.
“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?”
Small Things Like These
It is not possible to talk about this book without spoilers so feel free to skip the next paragraph and quote.
At this point, Furlong makes a decision – he seeks out Sarah and takes her home. Small Things Like These ends at a powerful point. He does not know how his family will react to his bringing Sarah home but he knows that this is the right thing to do. His sense of resolve is unshaken and though the road ahead is unclear and will definitely be challenging, he will never be sorry about this decision to help the girl.
“The worst that could have happened was also already behind him; the thing not done, which could have been – which he would have had to live with for the rest of his life.”
Small Things Like These
Small Things Like These is about the small moments when we are called upon to make a choice. The feelings of guilt and shame that reveal to us who we want to be and the fear of standing up and showing ourselves that stops us from doing what we think is right.
I hope this holiday season brings you rest and thoughtful books.
Thanks for reading and a very happy holidays to you! 🙂
Keegan is an amazing writer. You should try her book Foster as well.
Thanks for the recommendation! I will give it a read. 🙂