This searing and powerful book portrayed a side of American life which was completely unknown to me.
The character of Demon was masterly – believable, empathic, infuriating, and piteous. I so wanted him to succeed and rise above his circumstances and was cast down with each failure, so that it became almost unbearable. The whole book was Dickensian in its vivid conjuring of a place, characters, and sustained anger.
Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.
In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster…
It gives me a warm glow to think about because of its incredible delicacy and lightness of touch.
Set at Christmas, it feels like a story of redemption and kindness. Even though it's about the ghastly inhumanity of people who should have known and behaved better, and there may be consequences for the characters beyond the end of the book, it still left me with a sense of the goodness of people. Short and perfectly formed.
"A hypnotic and electrifying Irish tale that transcends country, transcends time." —Lily King, New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers
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…
I have experienced the loss of loved ones, have written about it, and read about bereavement, but never before seen grief portrayed so brilliantly.
The first half of this novel is as tense as a thriller – you know Hamnet is going to die and the tension tightens and tightens towards the inevitable. Edge of seat stuff. And then the second half is this exceptional portrait of the grief of his mother – of any mother who has lost a child.
WINNER OF THE 2020 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION - THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER 2021 'Richly sensuous... something special' The Sunday Times 'A thing of shimmering wonder' David Mitchell
TWO EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE. A LOVE THAT DRAWS THEM TOGETHER. A LOSS THAT THREATENS TO TEAR THEM APART.
On a summer's day in 1596, a young girl in Stratford-upon-Avon takes to her bed with a sudden fever. Her twin brother, Hamnet, searches everywhere for help. Why is nobody at home?
Their mother, Agnes, is over a mile away, in the garden where she grows medicinal herbs. Their father is working in London.
Lucy braves the horrors of the Spanish civil war to bring back the two men she loves, and ends up saving the lives of thousands of children. This novel about the strength and courage of women and the importance of friendship in the most terrible of circumstances, follows three young British volunteers. Tom and Jamie are brothers who live next door to Lucy and are bitter rivals for her affection. Tom joins the International Brigades in support of the democratically elected Republicans, while Jamie becomes a reporter for the Catholic Herald, on General Franco's side. Lucy learns about the desperate situation of child refugees and orphans and goes out to help. Which brother will she end up with? And will any of them survive?
