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Quick answer: Good discussion questions for Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan focus on moral courage, complicity, Ireland’s Magdalene laundries, kindness and fatherhood, small-town silence and the cost of doing the right thing. Below are 17 questions grouped by theme, plus a spoiler-free summary.
Quick facts
Author: Claire Keegan
Published: 2021
Setting: New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland, Christmas 1985
Recognition: Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize; Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2022
Adaptation: 2024 film starring Cillian Murphy
Length: about 115 pages
Content note: institutional abuse of young women and girls
Small Things Like These is barely more than 100 pages, but it’s one of the most discussed short novels of recent years. In the weeks before Christmas, a coal merchant in a small Irish town makes a discovery at the local convent and has to decide whether to look away. It’s a perfect book club pick: quick to read, beautifully written and full of moral questions. This guide includes a spoiler-free summary, characters and themes, and 17 discussion questions grouped by theme. The questions contain spoilers.
Table of Contents
Spoiler-Free Summary
It’s December 1985 in New Ross, a small town in County Wexford, Ireland. Bill Furlong is a coal and timber merchant who works hard to provide for his wife, Eileen, and their five daughters. Times are tough, and the town is full of people struggling.
Bill grew up without knowing his father. His mother, a young unmarried woman, was taken in by a kind Protestant widow, Mrs. Wilson, and he was raised in her house.
While making a delivery to the local convent, which runs a laundry and a school, Bill sees something that troubles him deeply. In the days before Christmas, he must decide what to do about it, knowing that the convent’s power reaches into every corner of the town.
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Main Characters and Themes
| Character or Theme | What to Know |
|---|---|
| Bill Furlong | A coal merchant, husband and father of five daughters |
| Eileen | His practical, cautious wife |
| Mrs. Wilson | The widow who took in Bill’s mother |
| Ned | The farmhand who worked at Mrs. Wilson’s house |
| Sarah | A young girl Bill meets at the convent |
| The Mother Superior | The powerful head of the convent |
| Magdalene laundries | Institutions where women and girls were confined and made to work |
| Complicity | What happens when a town stays silent |
| Kindness | How small acts change lives |
| Courage | The cost of doing the right thing |
Discussion Questions (Contains Spoilers)
Bill Furlong
- What kind of man is Bill at the start of the book?
- How does Bill’s own childhood shape what he does?
- Bill asks himself what the point of life is if we don’t help one another. How does that question drive the book?
- What does Bill’s work, delivering coal, say about him?
Eileen and the Family
- Eileen warns Bill to stay out of the convent’s business. Is she wrong?
- How do Bill’s daughters influence his thinking?
- What does the family’s Christmas preparation show about their lives?
The Convent
- What did you know about Ireland’s Magdalene laundries before reading?
- How does the Mother Superior’s conversation with Bill feel threatening without being openly so?
- How does Keegan show the convent’s power over the town?
Mrs. Wilson and Kindness
- What did Mrs. Wilson’s kindness mean to Bill and his mother?
- Why do you think Keegan reveals Bill’s family history slowly?
- Who do you think Bill’s father was? What clues does Keegan give?
Style and the Ending
- Keegan writes very sparely. What did that style add to the story?
- How did you feel about the ending? What do you think happens next?
- Why do you think Keegan chose the title Small Things Like These?
- Has this book made you think about times you stayed silent?
Is Small Things Like These a Good Book Club Pick?
Choose it if your group wants something short and powerful, or if you need a December pick. At about 115 pages, it can be read in an evening, and there’s room to read it twice. It works for nearly every group, from new clubs to seasoned literary readers. Pair it with a short article or documentary on the Magdalene laundries for context. The 2024 film with Cillian Murphy makes an easy second meeting.
Book Club Ideas for Small Things Like These
- Serve an Irish Christmas spread, with tea, brown bread, Christmas cake or mince pies.
- Read the dedication and author’s note together; Keegan dedicates the book to the women and children who suffered.
- Learn the history: share one fact about the Magdalene laundries and their closure in 1996.
- Talk about a small kindness someone once showed you that you never forgot.
- Watch the 2024 film for a second meeting.
Books Like Small Things Like These
If your group loved it, try Foster by Claire Keegan for another short, luminous story of an Irish childhood, Long Island by Colm Tóibín for small-town Irish life, or The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne for a sweeping story of Ireland’s hidden histories.
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How to Structure Your Meeting
Start by asking what each member would have done in Bill’s place. Then work through two or three questions from each theme above, saving the “big picture” questions for the end. If your group is large, split into pairs for one theme and report back.
A simple 90-minute plan:
- 0–15 minutes: food, catch-up and the opening question.
- 15–60 minutes: the discussion questions, theme by theme.
- 60–75 minutes: one of the book club ideas above, or a quick comparison with the adaptation if there is one.
- 75–90 minutes: everyone rates the book out of five in one sentence, then you pick next month’s read.
Related: Long Island book club discussion questions and the best literary fiction books for book clubs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Small Things Like These about?
It follows Bill Furlong, a coal merchant in a small Irish town in 1985, who discovers mistreatment at the local convent’s laundry and must decide whether to act.
How long is Small Things Like These?
It’s about 115 pages, short enough to read in one or two sittings.
Is Small Things Like These based on a true story?
Bill is fictional, but the book is inspired by Ireland’s real Magdalene laundries, where women and girls were confined and forced to work until 1996.
Is there a movie of Small Things Like These?
Yes. The 2024 film stars Cillian Murphy as Bill Furlong.