“Small Things Like These”, Claire Keegan.

They say “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but this is exactly what I did. The cover illustrates some small, snowy houses in green and white. The title of the book “Small things like these” makes you think that is about a daily story by an ordinary person - like you – which however is worth reading.

The protagonist of the book is a man from Ireland. He lives in a small town with his family of five daughters and his wife. He works many hours in his business (merchant of coal and logs), leaves his home before sunlight and comes back after the sun has set, without any complaints. He appreciates the good stuff that happened in his life and tries to enjoy every moment with his daughters.

In some point in the book appear existential thoughts and worries about his future. While he appreciates the little things in life and takes plesure of the cozy moments with his lovely family, he realises that he doesn’t live in the present. He already feels nostalgia for the things that are happening. I think that readers can somehow relate themselves to these thoughts.

One day, near Christmas, he visits a monastery in order to deliver a package. Apart from the nuns in the monastery lived many girls that were clearly unhappy and tired. From that moment on he couldn’t think something else. I quote here Michael Sandel who said in one of his lectures “Once the familiar turns strange, it’s never quite the same again”. In other words, the unexcpecting truth he discovered, couldn’t be forgotten.

All in all, I recommend this book. Besides the good plot and writing of the book, the story is dedicated to the women and children who suffered in Ireland’s Magdalen laundries, also known as Magdalene asylums, that operated from 18th until 20th century. I didn’t know a thing about that, and the book was a great chance to discover this dark story about Ireland and some other places in Europe.

The small things we do, don’t change human history, but may change the history of a human.