Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These was one of my favorite books last year. It was nominated for several awards and its success must have made it easy for Faber & Faber to decide to re-issue her earlier novella, Foster, which was first published back in 2010.

Scarcely eighty pages long, Foster tells the story of a young girl sent to stay with relatives on a farm in Ireland. She doesn’t know what to expect or when she will return home, but anxiety recedes when met by unfamiliar affection and kindness. Little or nothing happens by way of plot, but no one should be fooled by the surface simplicity of Foster. Something of real power and truth is found in its confines, and revelations of love, home, and family. It’s a perfect, tiny jewel.