Small Things Like These
Award History
| Award | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Booker Prize | 2022 | Shortlist |
| Women's Prize for Fiction | 2022 | Shortlist |
| Orwell Prize for Political Fiction | 2022 | Winner |
| James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction | 2021 | Shortlist |
| Orwell Prize for Political Fiction | 2021 | Shortlist |
| Orwell Prize for Political Fiction | 2020 | Shortlist |
About This Book
Claire Keegan's novella is set in a small Irish town in December 1985 and follows Bill Furlong, a coal merchant who discovers that the local convent's laundry is a Magdalene institution in which women are imprisoned and exploited. The novel, written with Keegan's characteristic compression and moral clarity, asks what it costs to act on what you know. It won the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction in 2022 and has sold millions of copies worldwide.
About the Author
Claire Keegan is an Irish novelist and short story writer born in County Wicklow in 1968. She studied at Loyola University New Orleans and at University College Dublin, and has taught creative writing at Trinity College Dublin. Her debut story collection Antarctica (1999) announced a remarkable new voice in Irish fiction. Read more →
