Foster

Claire Keegan

So starts a beguiling tale from one of Ireland’s finest writers. Garlanded with international awards for her two short story collections, the 42-year-old won the Davy Byrnes Award for a shortened version of this offering that was published in the New Yorker.

Foster is less than 90 pages long, but it makes for a subtly enlightening account of rural life. There’s a timeless feel to it. We see days pass through the eyes of the young narrator, and there’s authenticity there. Keegan clearly knows the territory; she is the youngest of a large Catholic farming family, brought up in Co Wicklow. A keen observer, the narrator notices the minutiae – seeing weeping willows, she remarks that they look sick. She is aware, too, of the nuances of the adults’ emotions. Sent away because her mother, pregnant again, is struggling to feed all her children, the girl, wondering if it’s going to be a boy or girl, is aware her mother wants neither.