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Foster

Writer's picture: Greg BarlinGreg Barlin

Updated: Feb 3

by Claire Keegan ★★★★★

cover art for In the Lives of Puppets

Foster is a wee little Irish story. Marketed as a novel, the Kindle version clocks in at a scant 62 pages, and the last 12 are a preview of another book by author Claire Keegan. However, in the 50 pages it encompasses, Keegan manages to subtly establish a situation and develop character growth and emotion beyond what's found in novels five times longer. The story is told from the point of view of a young girl, delivered by her father to a family who lives "towards the coast where my mother's people come from". She's to stay with the family—the Kinsellas—for an indeterminate period of time. They've met the girl before, but it's been years ("The last time I saw you, you were in the pram.").


Keegan sprinkles in subtle hints about the situation that brought the girl into the Kinsellas' lives. The reader gradually comes to understand the reasons the girl's family might have for needing to find a new home for her and the circumstances that made the Kinsellas in need of an influx of innocence. "God help you, child," Mrs. Kinsella whispers to her on her first night with them, when she believe the girl to be asleep. "If you were mine, I'd never leave you in a house with strangers."


As the girl's shyness and nervousness begin to fade, through the kindness of the Kinsellas, Keegan drops in tender moments that feel just right. Something as small as Mr. Kinsella taking the girl's hand can lead to a few poignant phrases that pack a punch with all they reveal. "As soon as he takes it, I realise my father has never once held my hand, and some part of me wants Kinsella to let me go so I won't have to feel this. It's a hard feeling but as we walk along I begin to settle and let the difference between my life at home and the one I have here be." In the brief arc of the novel, we see the girl grow comfortable with the Kinsellas and a loving relationship develop.


It's 5-star writing, and distinctly Irish in its turns-of-phrase and dialogue. I only wish it was longer. There's more that could be teased out and developed, but at the same time Keegan's small book also feels complete. Worth the hour (or less) it will take you to read in a single sitting.



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