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A review by xlivingthroughpagesx
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
5.0
This was quite an emotional read. Living in Ireland myself, having done my fair share of historical research on The Magdalene Laundries for numerous projects - This one hurts.
I must admit, I didn't entirely know what to expect of the book but reading about this dark part of Ireland's past from the perspective of not those incarcerated by the church but rather the society around them, was tough. The "don't talk about it, it doesn't concern us" mindset was really sad. I found myself with tears in my eyes throughout, as it's hard reading about people who knew what happened behind the closed doors to the convent. Billy Furlongs battle with both past and the small town's mindset to the horrors happening was intriguing and I am really pleased with the ending.
I think this is a really important read and captures well how it was in the 80's Ireland. If you don't know anything about The Magdalene Laundries, I strongly suggest looking into it. A fair assumption is that 30.000 women were enslaved in these homes and to this day it's still unknown how many it actually was and what happened to their babies. So many died or were forcefully adopted, taken away from their biological mothers. It's a really horrible part of history but important to know and talk about.
I must admit, I didn't entirely know what to expect of the book but reading about this dark part of Ireland's past from the perspective of not those incarcerated by the church but rather the society around them, was tough. The "don't talk about it, it doesn't concern us" mindset was really sad. I found myself with tears in my eyes throughout, as it's hard reading about people who knew what happened behind the closed doors to the convent. Billy Furlongs battle with both past and the small town's mindset to the horrors happening was intriguing and I am really pleased with the ending.
I think this is a really important read and captures well how it was in the 80's Ireland. If you don't know anything about The Magdalene Laundries, I strongly suggest looking into it. A fair assumption is that 30.000 women were enslaved in these homes and to this day it's still unknown how many it actually was and what happened to their babies. So many died or were forcefully adopted, taken away from their biological mothers. It's a really horrible part of history but important to know and talk about.