In this arresting collection of short stories about women's relationships with awful men, Keegan once again demonstrates her dazzling gift for picking just the right word in the right place. She may well be the finest author writing at the moment. Keegan's sharp wit and beautiful language penetrates deeply into the soul of the reader and makes one want to lose oneself in her words and worlds. — Paul Thompson
Keegan's growth from a fine writer to one of extraordinary sensibility and nuance is evident in these three tales. While her two earlier works are excellent, the title story, of a man's actions and memories on an outwardly ordinary day, quietly builds to a heart-rending conclusion. — Mike Hare
November 2023 Indie Next List
“Simply perfect, as to be expected from Claire Keegan. She has a way of dropping you right into the middle of a piece of everyday life and tearing out your heart. With perfectly drawn characters, she always leaves you wanting more of the story.”
— Lori Virelli, Harvey's Tales, Geneva, IL
About the Author
Claire Keegan's stories are translated into thirty languages. Antarctica won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Walk the Blue Fields won the Edge Hill Prize, awarded to the best collection of stories published in the British Isles. Foster won the Davy Byrnes Award, one of the richest literary prizes in the world, and was last year 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 2022 Booker Prize, and for the Rathbones Folio Prize, awarded for the best work of literature, regardless of form, to be published in the English language, and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award and the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.
“Simply perfect, as to be expected from Claire Keegan. She has a way of dropping you right into the middle of a piece of everyday life and tearing out your heart. With perfectly drawn characters, she always leaves you wanting more of the story.”