Darkness on the Edge of Town

Claire Keegan's novella Small Things Like These (2021) has been shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize. The judges accurately describe it as 'a story of quiet bravery, set in an Irish community in denial of its central secret. Beautiful, clear, economic writing and an elegant structure dense with moral themes.' 

It's almost Christmas 1985 in the town of New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland. Bill Furlong is busily distributing coal and wood to locals, before closing for the holidays. Times are tough, stores have been boarded up, and some of Furlong's customers can barely afford a load of coal to keep warm in the biting cold. 

One of Furlong's deliveries is to the convent at the edge of town, a training academy for wayward girls who toil in the laundry to atone for their sins. On a visit, Furlong meets one of these girls, and while the nuns outwardly demonstrate kindness, in his gut he feels something isn't right. 

At home with his wife and five daughters, Furlong cannot stop thinking about the convent and the young women there. His own mother, who was 16 when she had her son, may have ended up in a similar situation had it not been for a benefactor who took them in. 

Keegan has done a wonderful job of contrasting the delights of festive season with the darkness of the Magdalene Laundries. There is a strong sense of community in this town, gathering together to turn on the Christmas lights and listen to the choir. At home, the Furlong family makes Christmas cake, decorates the tree and the girls write letters to Santa. If Furlong acts on his instincts, and probes more deeply into what is happening to these girls, he risks being ostracised and the social and economic impacts that will have on his family would be dire. But can he stay silent?

The Magdalene Laundries are a shameful part of Irish history in which an estimated 30,000 young women were confined in institutions operating from the 1700s until the mid-1990s. Run by Catholic nuns, the horrors of these facilities finally came to light when a mass grave was found in 1993. An inquiry followed and in 2013 the Irish leader Taoiseach Enda Kenny issues a formal state apology calling the laundries 'the nation's shame'. 

While Keegan only hints at the horrors of these facilities in Small Things Like These, in subtle ways she communicates the powers of the Church and the risks of speaking out. 

I really enjoyed this Dickensesque novella. Keegan's prose is rich, and in Furlong she has created a wonderfully memorable character. I am not certain that this should win the Booker Prize, but I am pleased to have been introduced to this gifted writer.