This is a rare short book in my "reading career", as I usually prefer books between 300-500 pages, because I believe that a story and its themes can be explored to their full potential in that length. With that said, I believe that with Small Things Like These Claire Keegan is able to create a perfect narrative, she says everything she needs to say without leaving you craving more when you turn the last page.
It's a book I really recommend, because of its short nature and because it helps give insight into an issue, that of the Magdalene Laundries, that pretty much no one outside of Ireland really knows about. It tells a fictional story that's actually the story of so many young women across the world and across all decades, a story of shame, silence, fear, cruelty and abuse, by the hands of those who should be the most welcoming. It's chilling how the nuns act so friendly to everyone but immediately turn cruel towards these girls or Furlong, when he starts looking through their lies. Furlong is a great main character. He is already a good man at the beginning, leading an honest life and supporting his daughters' future with his wife Eileen. He does not need to learn to treat women as equals or respect others, he already knows this. But he is challenged to go against the basic notion of what society considers to be "a good person", and actually act up, something that might get him social condemnation, but would show him to be a true, actually good Christian, outside of what's simply required by social norms.