“He found himself asking was there any point in being alive without helping one another?”
In this little gem of a novella we follow Bill Furlong, who is a timber and coal merchant in the small town of New Ross, Ireland. Bill has done well for himself and is able to provide a comfortable and decent living for his wife and five children. He was born to an unwed young mother who died early on in his life. His mother's employer, Mrs. Wilson, was a kind woman who cared for Bill after his mother's death. He knows how fortunate he was to have someone like Mrs. Wilson, especially considering Ireland's ugly history with unwed young mothers being sent off to the Magdalene Laundries. The Magdalene Laundries were run by the Catholic church from the 1700s until its closing in the 1990s. Young women, often pregnant and unwed, are sent there for "training" but were more often than not treated very harshly, to say the least.
It's well known in the town about the Laundries, but persons often overlook or turn a blind eye towards them for fear of the power of the church. One day, Bill finds himself in a situation that poses a moral conundrum for him.
I loved this book. The writing, the atmosphere, everything. This story highlights the horrors of the Magdalene laundries and the powers of the Catholic church. It highlights the goodness in people and their internal struggle when faced with certain moral dilemmas. For such a small book (about 124 pages) it is extremely powerful. I love a book that can pack a punch in a short period of time. It takes a good writer to be able to bring out such powerful messages in such a short amount of words.This book was perfectly executed and deserves its place on the 2022 Booker Longlist.
I cannot believe I haven't read anything by this author before. I immediately picked up another novella by her called Foster and fell in love with it as well. I will definitely be reading more of Claire Keegan's work.
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