I have read a few by this author. She has sparse, beautiful prose. After you finish the book lingers ind your mind. ( )

Reminiscent of Joan Bauer’s children’s books with just the right amount of strife/trauma without veering into the truly dark. Lovely writing, descriptive yet spare. ( )

Probably 3.5. I enjoyed it, but have questions. Maybe that's the point. It's very, very short and reads more like a slice-of-life short story. ( )

If you have a spare 40 minutes, read this poignant very short story about a neglected, young Irish girl who is sent to live with her aunt and uncle for a short while.
Hasn't realised that this book was the basis for a little known gem of a movie, The Quiet Girl. ( )

Foster by Claire Keegan floated into my mind and heart with a soft intensity that surprised me. As Keegan reveals both the child's story and the Kinsellas' story, there are surprises that somehow make perfect sense even when they feel like they shouldn't. Foster feels so real yet there is also a surrealness about it, the kind of surrealness that comes with deep grief and dysfunction coming together trying to form something functional, a family. ( )

a sweet, kind, short story ( )

Lovely little book, concise and thoughtful, implies that much more can be gained by closer reading. The language is tight like Hemmingway, but descriptive and emotionally revealing. Recommended if you like Demon Copperhead. Much shorter however. ( )

So delighted to see this book made into a movie “ An Cailin Ciuin” (The Quiet Girl) and has now being nominated for an Oscar. Beautiful Book and Movie

What a terrific find this little book was and I have no idea how I missed out on this one for so long. Foster by Claire Keegan is skilfully crafterd and thought a provoking Novella which really brought me back to my childhood with its wonderful sense of Irishness and it's rich prose and unsettling storyline. This for me is the Ireland of the 1980s and Claire Keegan has truly got inside the mind of a child and crafted a story where what is unsaid is more important than what is actually said."
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This Novella (under 100 pages) tell the story of a a young girl from a struggling farming family in rural Ireland who spends a summer with better off childless relatives on another farm. She's been sent away during the summer to lessen the burden on her strained mother who is pregnant yet again. The girl doesn't know when she will be going home. Her father who drives her there doesn't say when he her will return for her, or even say goodbye properly. The couple, each in their own way show her a love and affection she is unfamiliar with, as she settles in she comes to learn that the couple have their own sorrows.

This is one of those remarkable short books where not a wold is wasted and every sentence is skilfully crafted. On finishing this book I went straight back to page one and read the book all over again as I wanted to read it with a different view this time. I absolutely loved the sense of time and place as you see and smell the Irish countryside, experience the quiet pace of life and the rural communities where your business is everyone's business.

This would make a fantastic bookclub read and I can understand why this is has won so many awards and why it is on the reading list for Leaving Certificate English in Secondary School as so much to discuss in this one. ( )

Foster - Claire Keegan
Audio performance by Aoife McMahon
4 stars

I’m not sure how a short story landed on the list of the Times ‘Top 50 Novels Published in the 21st Century.’ At less than 100 pages, I’m not sure I could even call it a novella. And, that is my only complaint; that it was less than 100 pages. It is such a perfect, poignant story. If only it could have been a chapter of a slightly longer book….
I loved the ending, but I wanted more. ( )

A small book packed with a lot of detail and excellently written. I definitely will look for other books by this stellar writer.

A young impoverish girl is sent to an Irish countryside to live with a childless couple who welcome her with open arms. The parents of the girl are preparing for their fourth child -- one added to the others that cannot to clothed or fed properly.

The girl shines when in the hands of this lovely couple. In particular, she develops a relationship with the husband. There seemed to be some mystery in this relationship that I still could not understand even after reading it another time.

She is given a bath, new clothes, a pair of lovely shoes, and housed with people who grow to love her. In the end her biological father comes to get her to take her home to help with the new baby.

While the girl had a small window of love and a better life, the reader cannot help but feel sorry for her when the time together with this couple who obviously emotionally care for her must end.

This incredibly written book packs a lot of descriptive feelings, and I highly recommend it! I found this book on many threads. I'm glad I finally read it after seeing it on so many threads.

A poignant novella that can be read in one hour. Set in the Irish countryside, this story of a summer when she is brought to live with a childless couple (distant relatives) she doesn’t know while her mother is having her fourth child, is told from the young girl’s perspective. At first, everything seems different and strange, but she gradually settles into her new life, a busy but calming routine, and it is an experience that changes her. A lovely, sad book. ( )

3.75

A young girl is sent to live with relatives over the summer while her parents prepare for the birth of another child.
In her new home she is given care and attention and thrives like a flower finally getting sun. In a single summer she is loved.
When it came time to return to her birth parents, my heart broke for her.
The author writes beautifully but in a very quiet and subtle manor. ( )

In a Nutshell: Touching and subtle. Beautiful writing, heartfelt emotions, realistic characters. You’ll want more at the end. But you’ll also realize that you have acquired far more than the 90-odd pages contain.

Story Synopsis:

The unnamed first-person protagonist, a child of unspecified age, has been sent by her parents to live with a foster family on a rural Irish farm while her mother readies herself to give birth to yet another child. She doesn’t know the people she is to stay with, and she doesn’t know when she is to return home. What she doesn’t know is that life is going to bloom for her in this foster home. But all good things come to an end, right? Or don’t they?

I loved the three main characters: the child and the two foster parents. Keegan sketches their personalities in a striking way without going into details. It is only with every subsequent scene that you begin to put a picture of what might be the backstory of the characters.

I’ve read three Claire Keegan works so far, and each time, I’ve read the respective story twice. The first time the regular way, and the second time to see what more clues I might have missed. Her writing is very intelligent, and she also respects her readers’ intelligence by not spoon-feeding them every single detail. Nor does she shove the emotions into your face but causes you to feel them through simple scenes and hidden cues. I do appreciate this trait of hers, though it makes me work that much harder to glean the best of her writing as she leaves a lot unsaid. In this story though, I wish she had revealed at least a few more details. The age of the protagonist, for one. While we can gauge that the child could be anywhere between 6-10 years old, but I like knowing the age of child characters so that I can picture them and their behaviour better.

Names in all their forms have a significant role in the delivery of this novella, which is quite ironic as our narrator remains anonymous throughout the story. She is referred to variously as ‘girl’ or ‘petal’ or any other term, which reveals how the speaker views her. What is also interesting is her own approach to names. Her temporary foster mom, for instance, is always “the woman” in her thoughts while the foster dad is mostly “Kinsella”. There is also a significant moment connected to names at the very end, which is the most poignant moment of the story.

The writing is, as always, poetic without being over the top. Keegan maintains in her scenes the perfect balance between description and conversation, never allowing one to overpower the other. She is also true to the national identity of the characters, and retains the Irish lilt in their lines. The child’s emotions of awe and worry and fear and comfort come out well through the first person rendition. The story is medium-paced, and it would be better if you read it slower to get the exact sense of what’s happening. Keegan’s books are never to be skip-read.

The bittersweet ending left my heart longing for more. Though I know it was the only possible ending for this story, one can still wish that fiction worked better than reality and gave the girl an ending she deserved instead of an ending she was destined to have.

All in all, this isn’t a story that will leave you easily. It isn’t perfect, but it is striking in its writing and memorable in its characters. Definitely worth a read.

4.25 stars.

My thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the DRC of “Foster”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

‘Foster’ was an international bestseller on its release in 2010, and one of The Times’ “Top 50 Novels Published in the 21st Century.” A variant of this story was published on the New Yorker site. This is the revised and expanded edition.



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Thoughtful, slow, atmospheric read. Honestly I'm not sure if I "got" it, but at least I knew there was something there. ( )

What a beautiful little gem of a short story from Claire Keegan, whose work I’ve run through these past weeks in a voracious explosion of Irish literary fiction. All of her writing is competent and evocative; some, like Foster, is damn near perfect. ( )

Like all the best short stories, I wish this one had been longer. I loved this story and it’s been on my mind a lot in the last few days since I read it. ( )

A couple of friends recommended Claire Keegan to me and this was the one that was available from the library first. It’s a short novella but there’s much more story there than the length would indicate.

A young Irish girl is sent to live with a couple in another town. Her life with them is very different from her life at home and the experience changes both her and the couple who care for her.

The writing is gorgeous and I definitely want to read more of Keegan’s work. ( )

Most every reader friend I have loves Claire Keegan, but clearly I am missing something. This was a pleasant read, quietly sad, which is exactly how I felt about Small Things Like These. This long short story or short novella contains lovely prose, no question, but as a whole it was bittersweet and conveyed nothing surprising or delightful to me, there are no insights to be had. It is pretty and melancholic and I generally enjoyed spending time with it. A 3.5. ( )

I listened to this in audiobook format.

Foster is a short story about an Irish girl sent to live with a couple while her mother gives birth to the next of several children. She warms to the couple as they take far better care of her than her own parents did. The ending is sad. I liked the story but have trouble really getting into anything that isn't at least 300 pages. The audiobook performer had the most glorious voice though. ( )

There's a reason Foster is required reading in Ireland's middle school. It's brilliant!! Elegantly written and very moving. ( )

This short story tells a first-person account of an Irish child sent to live with relatives in the countryside. At the outset, she does not know whether she will ever return home again. She quickly discovers that her new guardians are kind and affectionate in a way that her parents never were. She grows to feel at home there… until something terrible happens to make her see her situation for what it is. Then her parents have her return home, where she faces a new problem – whether to speak or to remain silent about her experiences.

Claire Keegan’s writing appeals to those who like shorter works of fiction and appreciate books where the events themselves drive the plot. I had to reread parts of this work because the plot movements were so subtle, yet after rereading them, I found the entire work to be ingenious. Her style is almost too nuanced, but her themes possess an infinitely deep quality.

Like the rest of Keegan’s writing, this story is succinctly worded without spending any loose energy. It reminds readers that things are not always as they seem and that speaking the truth remains an eminent human virtue. She nobly puts a magnifying glass on vulnerable children such as those fostered in the vulnerable society of Ireland. Because her stories are so understated, she encourages readers to focus upon details to extract meaning. As in literature, so in life. ( )

A young girl is taken to the Kinsellas--a childless couple she does not know--who will foster her while her impoverished parents await the birth of their latest child.

The girl is fed well and grows so much in the few days she is there. She is clean, she is fed, she is appreciated, clothes and school supplies are purchased. She gets more positive attention than she ever has. She blossoms in all ways as she stays with them, and the reader feels her own amazement at their kindness and food, and their attempting to hide their shock at how she is neglected at home.

This book is so sad and bittersweet, as a young girl sees how home life can be--and a couple who lost their only child see a family with more children than they can feed or dress or love as they would like. ( )

A wonderful short story sold as a standalone book - rip-off! ( )

A solid 3 star read. The story was just to fast. I wanted to know more of why she had to be fostered and why she connected so well with those who were fostering her. A sweet story of love and acceptance that also gives light to how a small change or interaction can change who a child is or the character it builds in them. ( )

A young girl who's part of a large family is brought by her father to live with a childless couple, relatives of hers, who are caring for her while her mother is pregnant with yet another child. At first unsure, she comes to love and trust these kind folks who take her in.

The story is from the unnamed child's point of view, and the characters are so well drawn. It's a quiet, everyday kind of story but filled with such emotion that the ending had me rereading, making sure I fully understood. This one will stick with me for awhile, and packed quite the emotional punch. ( )