Small things like these

Claire Keegan’s novella Small things like these is very sweet and the ending is so triumphant and satisfying and punk rock that it’s going to stay with me for a very long time. I leave this rare book recommendation without a quote or much of a description simply because I don’t want to ruin anything. But what I will spoil is that Keegan’s writing is clear and precise, like ice made in laboratory conditions. I spotted this interview that captures how she writes: “A lot of my work goes into taking any traces of my labours out,” says Keegan, when I talk to her in Edinburgh, a few hours after she gave a reading at the city's book festival. “It's essentially about trusting in the reader's intelligence rather than labouring a point. To work on the level of suggestion is what I aim for in all my writing. There are so many things the short story cannot do; it's by learning those limitations that I am cornered into writing what I can.”