This my first experience reading anything by Claire Keegan, but I was very impressed. Sometimes the quietist book can send the biggest message, and this is a clear (deserved) condemnation of the Catholic church in Ireland.
Set in a small village in Ireland just before Christmas in the mid-1980s, when many people are out of work and suffering, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and father to four daughters, is still making ends meet. When making a pre-holiday delivery to the local convent, he accidentally discovers a teenage girl locked in the coal cellar. The nuns act like it was a mistake (and then try to bribe him) and his wife tells him it’s none of his business, but a bad feeling keeps gnawing at him.
This is not an action-packed book, and frankly, it would be better labeled as a novella then a full-length book, but the writing itself was beautiful and Bill Furlong’s character really shows how even the “every-man” can stand up to the strongest authority and rethink everything he’s ever been taught about the moral high ground. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author, including whatever I can find from her backlist.
Thank you to Grove Press for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.