This collection of short stories is the Irish author Claire Keegan’s first book, published in 1999. I have read her Novellas Small Things like These (recently released as a film) and Foster (made into the 2022 film The Quiet Girl) as well as her most recent short story collection So Late in the Day. And these led me back to her earliest work, which, like her other writing, focuses mostly on rural family life and relationships–healthy, unhealthy, loving and frightening–in Ireland, in the UK, and in America. 

A few of the most powerful ones: in “Men and Women,” a child narrator recounts how she must always get out of the car and open the gate for her Da with a bad hip, but later, after the whole family watches him dance at a town ball with another woman, no one gets out of the car when the gate needs to be opened. Instead, when he gets out, Mammy scoots to the driver’s side and leaves him in the dust.

“Sisters” tells the story of one sister, a spinster, who lives in the big family home, is also saddled with years of taking care of the father. When the favored sister comes home–hiding a crappy marriage under a sea of lies–she can’t understand why she and her children, who lie around waiting to be fed and entertained, are not welcomed. The savvy sister gets her justice. 

“Passport Soup” portrays the utter grief of losing a child along with the anger and the blame from one parent and the guilt felt by the other. Painful to read and utterly heartbreaking, we see how our marriage cannot possibly survive such a loss. 

I could add snippets of many more, but you should get the book and experience them all.

Keegan’s writing reminds me a lot of Bonnie Joe Campbell, a favorite author based in Michigan, who also delves into rural life with its beautiful and ugly relationships. They both capture our humanity in seemingly simple lives that are actually incredibly complex.