Literary Fiction · Free kit
Small Things Like These
In the weeks before Christmas 1985, coal merchant Bill Furlong makes his rounds in a small Irish town — until what he finds at the local convent forces him to see what everyone has agreed not to see. A spare, devastating Booker-shortlisted novel about conscience, complicity, and the cost of doing one right thing.
“Was there any point in being alive without helping one another?”
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Spoiler warning — best after finishing the book
Small Things Like These Discussion Questions
20 free questions written for Small Things Like These. No obvious right answers — built to spark real disagreement.
1. Keegan gives us almost no excess — every detail feels chosen. Which “small thing” early in the book suddenly felt enormous once you finished?
Warm Up
2. Bill has a good life by the town’s measure: work, wife, five daughters, Christmas coming. Why does contentment still feel unstable for him?
Warm Up
3. The weather, the coal, the dark mornings — how does the winter setting work as more than atmosphere?
Warm Up
4. Eileen tells Bill, in essence, not to overthink — to look after their own. When have you heard a version of that advice, and did it comfort or chill you?
Warm Up
5. Mrs. Wilson’s kindness toward Bill’s unmarried mother shapes his whole moral vocabulary. Who taught you what “decency” looks like in practice?
Warm Up
6. The town’s silence around the convent is almost a character. Is complicity mostly fear, selfishness, habit — or something colder?
Debate Starter
7. The Mother Superior greets Bill with tea, warmth, and a Christmas tip. How does politeness function as control in this book?
Debate Starter
8. Eileen’s pragmatism protects the family Bill built. Is she wrong — or is she describing the real price of conscience in a church-dominated town?
Debate Starter
9. When Bill walks Sarah through town, he knows people are watching. Is public witness part of the good deed — or an extra punishment the town will levy?
Debate Starter
10. Bill suspects Ned may be his father. How does that personal mystery braid into his response to the girls at the convent?
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11. Could a “good man” in this town have stayed silent and still called himself good? Where do you draw that line?
Debate Starter
12. Keegan never lectures about Magdalene laundries; she makes you feel the machinery of looking away. Does understatement make the horror sharper or easier to dodge?
Debate Starter
13. Is Bill’s final act heroic, reckless, both — or simply the minimum that conscience required?
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14. The pub owner warns Bill not to speak against the Church. What modern institutions still buy silence with access, reputation, or Christmas tips?
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15. Why title a book about institutional cruelty Small Things Like These? What does the title ask you to notice in your own life?
Deep Dive
16. Bill’s mother was spared the laundry because Mrs. Wilson intervened. How does that private mercy complicate — or clarify — his duty when mercy isn’t offered by the powerful?
Deep Dive
17. The novel ends at a threshold, not a tidy aftermath. What do you imagine happens next for Bill’s family — and why might Keegan refuse to show it?
Deep Dive
18. Keegan has said she’s interested in “going in” rather than “going on.” What does compression allow this story to do that a longer novel might dilute?
Deep Dive
19. Who is the book hardest on: the nuns, the townspeople, the husbands who look away — or readers who want Bill to fix everything alone?
Deep Dive
20. If conscience is costly, what “small thing” in your community might still be waiting for someone to refuse the tip and open the door?
Deep Dive