Let's Talk About Books: Foster and Small Things like These (2 novellas)

Join Let's Talk About Books, a monthly book club that meets online via Zoom. The meeting is free and open to everyone interested, whether they have read the book or not.

For March, we are reading two novellas, Foster and Small Things Like These. Both titles are by Claire Keegan.   Copies will be available at the desk for checkout one month ahead of the meeting. Also available on the The Palace Project and/or Libby app, 

Foster:  eBook or audiobook

Small Things Like These: eBook or audiobook

Synopsis:

Foster:

It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas' house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household—where everything is so well tended to—and this summer must soon come to an end.

Winner of the prestigious Davy Byrnes Award and published in an abridged version in the New Yorker, this internationally bestselling contemporary classic is now available for the first time in the US in a full, standalone edition. A story of astonishing emotional depth, Foster showcases Claire Keegan's great talent and secures her reputation as one of our most important storytellers.

Small Things Like These:

Small Things Like These is award-winning author Claire Keegan's landmark new novel, a tale of one man's courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family

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.

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. - provided by publisher