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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.… (more)
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The setting is Wexford in rural Ireland. A young girl is driven by her father to a stranger's home to left as a foster. Her mother will soon be giving birth and for financial and time reasons, the girl is be fostered for an indeterminate amount of time. As it turns out, the strangers are family and treat her very well.
Coming from a very poor family with many siblings, arriving dirty, underfed and lacking basic social graces the girl will slowly blossom in her foster home. For the first time she feels valued. The man and woman talk to her and engage her, teach her to read and show her love.
The ending was bittersweet and I wanted more. Sometimes it's best to linger on the "what ifs." I'd highly recommend immersing yourself in this poignant story. This is my first experience with this author and most certainly will not be my last.
Publication date is November 1, 2022 by Grove Atlantic Press. Genre: General Fiction Adult,
Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of this book. I was not compensated for the review, all opinions are mine.
And it only takes about an hour . . . not counting recovery.
Small-scale drama at family level, told through the eyes of a child, but very well written. Almost melodramatic at the end, but the novella has earned its ending.
In terms of sheer writing ability,
This is the first of Keegan's work that I have read, and it certainly will not be the last. I can't say I've read anything this poignant in a long time. I'd recommend this for just about any reader who enjoys literary fiction.
Thank you to Grove Press and Edelweiss for providing a copy for review.
I thought this was a lovely little read, very evocative of rural Ireland and the communities there. There's a sadness to the story but there's also a warmth created by the coming together of the Kinsellas and the girl. I found the whole thing touching and gentle.
I must confess I didn't at first understand the ending and read it several times to no avail but a quick search on the internet helped me to make sense of what it might have meant. Maybe a tad too vague a finish for me. On the whole though I thought Foster was a sensitive portrayal of childhood and illustrated the effects of different kinds of upbringings.
This is a gentle story that slowly reveals the growing love between the girl and the adults, and along the way Keegan gives us a view of the local community as well. Like [Small Things Like These,] this story focuses on understanding the problems others face without hammering in the point. Both give us hope that the best in us will prevail.
I was completely enchanted, (and I was not alone) by Keegan's 2021 novel Small Things Like These
She finds out
Beautiful and heart-wrenching, I love to read Keegan's work.
I could give examples to illustrate my point, but to say any more would spoil the reading experience. Keegan has a gift for telling a complete and nuanced story in very few words. While this novella could be read in an afternoon, it is worth taking at a slower pace to allow the sublime narrative to flow like a meandering stream.
However ~ the overlying, dark tone of family dysfunction and implied mistreatment of the young girl made this short story an emotional roller coaster. Keegan is a hugely powerful writer, able to evoke an atmospheric narrative in succinct descriptions. My rating reflects
The girl arrives at the Kinsella farm, unwashed, uncared for and unloved. But the
How can anything so perfect last?
Heartbreaking and warming at the same time. Beautifully written. In my eyes, this novella is darn near perfect.
I read the New York Times version of this book, rather than the "revised and expanded version" mentioned in GoodReads. At £4.29 for less than 100 pages this must be one of the most expensive Kindle books I've come across, so I declined to purchase the Amazon
It was chosen as a book group read by one of our Irish members and she certainly related to it as a taste of her youth and upbringing. I was raised in England and not in a Catholic community, so it was less familiar, but quite engaging all the same. The nameless eight-year-old girl who is shipped off to stay with relatives for the summer while her mother gives birth to her fifth (?) sibling, is quite charming and asks very little from her hosts. She expects to be put to work and is endearingly pleased to find herself cherished in a way that she had never experienced in her own family.
There are various day-to-day events that build up to a way of life that is beautifully illustrated, Behind the scenes lurks a past event that colours the lives of the foster parents, but not in such a way as to make our heroine uncomfortable. The most distressing part is the farewell, when she returns to her family for the new school year.
I suspect that this scene would have been reworked in the expanded novella because it was quite strange in my version and none of us were quite clear what actually happened.
I'd like to read the full version at some point, maybe my library can order it. It would be interesting to see what has been added and how it affects my understanding and interpretation of the story.