Small Things Like These

Claire Keegan’s tender tale of hope and quiet heroism is both a celebration of compassion and a stern rebuke of the sins committed in the name of religion.

It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him - and encounters the complicit silences of a small community controlled by the Church.

Small Things Like These was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize, announced on July 26, 2022. It was one of the six shortlisted books, announced on September 6.

Shortlisted: The Booker Prize 2022
Published by: Faber
Publication date: 14 December 2021

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Claire Keegan

About the Author

Claire Keegan was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2022. She is a novelist and short story writer, whose work has won numerous awards and been translated into 30 languages.

More about Claire Keegan

Reading Guide: Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Explore Claire Keegan’s Booker Prize 2022 shortlisted novel Small Things Like These with your book club using our guide and discover why the judges said it ‘explores the silent, self-interested complicity of a whole community’.

Claire Keegan answers readers' questions about Small Things Like These

The author of Small Things Like These, shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2022, talks about how she ends her books, how she chooses her titles and how she invented her main character

Read the 2022 shortlist: an extract from Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Read the opening chapter from Claire Keegan’s tender tale of hope and quiet heroism. It is both a celebration of compassion and a stern rebuke of the sins committed in the name of religion.

Claire Keegan interview: 'My central character isn’t someone who says much. A longer novel would not have suited his personality'

With Small Things Like These shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2022, Claire Keegan talks about the importance of restraint, why she’s more interested in tension than drama… and why not writing is more difficult than writing

Booker Prize 2022 judges with the six shortlisted novels

Why you should read Small Things Like These according to the Booker judges

The Booker Prize 2022 judges explain why readers will love Claire Keegan’s book, which characters and moments they enjoyed the most and why it’s relevant to today’s world

Watch our videos

The story so far: Coalman Bill Furlong visits a local convent and is disturbed by an encounter with a group of girls at its training school

The story so far: Christmas 1985 in a small Irish town. Bill Furlong, a coalman, revisits the local convent with his delivery - and makes a shocking discovery

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.

— The 2022 judges on Small Things Like These