finished reading

Claire Keegan is an incredible storyteller.  This novella will stick with me for a long time.  It's poignant and spare and lovely.  The story centers on an unnamed young Irish girl whose large family is about to expand once again, so she is sent to unknown-to-her relatives in the country.  The attention and affection she receives from John and Edna Kinsella are unlike anything she's experienced.  In one tender moment, John takes the girl's hand, and she realizes her own father has never done the same.

From the publisher:

It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas' house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household--where everything is so well tended to--and this summer must soon come to an end.Claire Keegan's piercing contemporary classic Foster is a heartbreaking story of childhood, loss, and love; now released as a standalone book for the first time ever in the US

It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas' house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household--where everything is so well tended to--and this summer must soon come to an end.

A story of astonishing emotional depth now expanded and newly revised in a standalone edition, Foster showcases Claire Keegan's great talent and cements her reputation as one of our most important and prodigious storytellers.