First novel I read by Claire Keegan and to say that I am grateful that have picked it up is an understatement.
This is a story about a family man named Bill Furlong, a family man who has a wife and five daughters whom he is deeply proud of, and in such times (1985) where most Irish families are struggling to make ends meet, he is able to provide for his humble family. Bill is also a person whose mother is single mother but was taken care of by a wealthy widow and grew up under her care. Hadn't it been for her, his mother's fate could have ended up like Sarah who was held up in something like Magdalen laundries that were under the catholic church which was another institution that took advantage of unwed mothers, sex workers and any women that dared to speak. This is a must read for everyone, because if it weren't for this novel I wouldn't have learned about the Magdalen laundries history