📚 James here! I've got a reading recommendation for you all. 📚 A short, sharp, exquisite novel that drips in literary gold line after line, Claire Keegan’s Booker Shortlisted novel ‘Small Things like These’ is an absolute triumph. The book is set in 1985, in an Irish town, in the build-up to Christmas. We follow Bill Furlong, as he does his deliveries to the many houses in the community. Over the course of a couple of days, we see the complicit silence he experiences in the town which is controlled by the Church. The thin veil of civility cloaks the people of the town and brings Bill to ask: do I stay silent in the face of injustice? Do I follow the status quo? Am I complicit if I say nothing? Entwining with Bill’s growing awareness of his past, Claire Keegan’s ultimately hopeful novel believes in the power of acts of compassion and humanity. Make sure to pick up a copy at the bookshop this week!