Claire Keegan: “Small Things Like These”| Oprah’s Book Club
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What is the purpose of Oprah's Book Club podcast?
Hi, it's Oprah, and welcome to my podcast. I am delighted and excited to begin sharing conversations with experts, with thought leaders, with writers around the human experience and what really matters in this one precious life we have, as poet Mary Oliver famously has said. We're starting off with a fascinating conversation with acclaimed Irish author Claire Keegan about her novella, Small Things Like These. Claire is a brilliant writer and also quite funny. She had so many insights to share. She had me and everybody in our audience at Starbucks really seeing things in a new light. And I hope you enjoy it. And I appreciate so much you joining the Oprah podcast. Hi, everybody, and thank you so much for joining us. I think this is so cool. Clara Keegan has traveled all the way from Ireland. Let's welcome her here to Starbucks. Thank you.
I think sadness actually makes you think about what life is like for others. I think being upset is really important so you can think about what others go through.
We are ah-ha-ing all over the damn place. All over the Starbucks cafe. That is such a big ah-ha. Starbucks kind of day. This is Claire Keegan, everybody.
Stand by, please.
Okay. Great.
Anytime.
Hi, everybody, and thank you so much for joining us. I think this is so cool. We are bringing great books, great coffee, and great conversation together in the best place to do it, Starbucks! Thank you so much. Now, listen to this. Every month, I'm going to have a new book club pick, and Starbucks is going to pair a delicious cup of curated coffee. The pairing for this book is Christmas blend coffee, which pairs perfectly with the December book because it takes place, wouldn't you know it, at Christmas time. And then we'll have conversation with the author inside Starbucks cafes all around the country. books, coffee, and conversation. I love this idea because I think that sharing ideas and connecting in person makes life sweeter and definitely more fun. So here's the thing. You are the very first audience. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So my 109th book club pick was listed by the New York Times as one of the 100 best books of the 21st century. And I had never read it. It is a novella.
It's small, only 114 pages. And it's by Claire Keegan. And it's called Small Things Like These. Small Things Like These is set in 1985 in the small town of New Ross, Ireland. At that time in Ireland, the Catholic Church held power over the culture. Author Claire Keegan's story centers around Bill Furlong, a husband and father of five daughters who runs a coal delivery service. The town is home to a convent and one of Ireland's Magdalene laundries, also known as mother and baby homes, run by Catholic nuns. For decades, it was an open secret that tens of thousands of young women in Ireland who were pregnant out of wedlock were housed in these institutions against their will. They were forced to work in the laundries without pay or the freedom to leave.
While delivering coal to the convent and laundry, Bill Furlong encounters a young woman who has been locked in a shed with no food, water, or even a toilet. She tells him her baby has been taken away from her. As the story progresses, Bill confronts memories of his own childhood being born out of wedlock and how the local people and even his own wife encourage him to ignore the young woman locked in the shed. Claire Keegan's exquisite writing examines Bill's struggle to go against the church and the dire consequences weighing on him. On page 113, she writes, he found himself asking, was there any point in being alive without helping one another? Our audience has read this book, and don't you think it's a classic? Yeah. Yeah. It's a classic. How many of you have read it more than one time already? More than one time already. Okay. That's really good.
So I am so happy that the author of this beautiful story, Small Things Like These, Clara Keegan, has traveled all the way from Ireland. Let's welcome her here to Starbucks. Thank you. Well done. Well done. And thank you for being here. Thank you for being here.
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