When he reached the yard gate and found the padlock seized with frost, he felt the strain of being alive and wished he had stayed in bed, but he made himself carry on and crossed to a neighbour’s house, whose light was on.

In Claire Keegan’s Christmas story Small Things Like These (2021) anti-Scrooge coal deliverer Bill Furlong just wants to do the right thing. When he encounters a dark reality in his small Irish village, thoughts of what he could do and what he should do consume him. When he delivers coal to the local convent that serves as a training school for girls, one of the girls begs him to take her away from the place. He chooses to continue his delivery rounds and tries to move on with his Christmas. But he cannot forget the little girl.

After this revelation, he continues his deliveries to his neighbors. But the victims in the convent haunt him as he makes his rounds. Furlong started the day reflecting on the wellbeing of his daughters and the generosity of his adoptive mother. Meeting the girl in desperate need confound him further. While Bill reflects, he acts. He gives pleasantries to neighbors, fills out paperwork at the office, and treks through the snowy village with deliveries as he considers his choices. He cannot sit still.

After finishing the novella, the reader might recall the dedication, which says “…To the women and children who suffered time in Ireland’s mother and baby home and Magdalen laundries.”  The story raises questions of what to do when we encounter injustice. Bill, much like Scrooge, chooses charity. But in this anti-Christmas Carol, the reader will sense the chaos lurking beyond the charity.

Claire Keegan, Grove Press (128 pages), November 31, 2021.