📚 This poignant novella is set in a small Irish town in 1985, where coal merchant Bill Furlong faces a moral crisis during the Christmas season. When he discovers a young girl locked in a coal shed at a local convent, he must decide whether to speak out against powerful institutions or remain silent. At just 128 pages, Claire Keegan masterfully explores themes of community complicity, moral courage, and the small actions that define us.
Our rural community shares many parallels with the close-knit Irish town in this story. Like Bill Furlong, many of us understand the delicate balance of maintaining harmony while confronting difficult truths. The book explores how small communities navigate traditions, religious institutions, and the courage required to challenge established systems. Its examination of how ordinary people can make extraordinary differences through seemingly small actions speaks directly to our own community values and challenges.
For those looking for discussion questions to prepare for our meeting: SMCC Book Club Questions – Small Things Like These.
Meeting Details:
- 📅 Date: Thursday, August 21, 2025
- ⏰ Time: 2:30pm – 3:30pm
- 📍 Location: Downstairs Community Room, Sandy Mush Community Center
New members are always welcome! Refreshments will be served.
If you are interested in joining the Book Club email list or have any questions, please contact Diana Simpson at bookclub@sandymushcommunitycenter.org
In case you don’t have time to read the book, he is a short book overview (spoiler alert).
The Magdalene Laundries mentioned in Joni Mitchell’s powerful song directly connects to the themes in “Small Things Like These.” The Magdalene Laundries were Irish institutions run by Catholic orders where “fallen women” – often unwed mothers or those deemed morally wayward – were sent to work in harsh conditions. In Keegan’s novel, the convent where Bill Furlong discovers the young girl imprisoned in the coal shed is similar to these institutions, which were part of Ireland’s dark history of institutional abuse.
Mitchell’s song illuminates the real historical backdrop against which Keegan’s fiction unfolds, highlighting how the Catholic Church and Irish society enabled these institutions to operate with little oversight. Just as Mitchell’s lyrics speak to the silenced voices of women confined in these laundries, Keegan’s novel explores how ordinary people like Furlong must decide whether to speak up or remain complicit in systemic injustice.