In the Dark

I can’t believe that it’s three months since I splashed out on six books in an attempt to restart my reading habit. Anyway, I took the opportunity of the by train trip down to Cork to read Claire Keegan’s novella Foster, as it was this work that inspired the beautiful Irish language film An Cailín Ciúin which I blogged about here. It’s a very short book, only 88 pages, but is an absolute gem. Keegan’s prose is spare but beautifully crafted and manages to convey great emotional depth largely by what is not said. For once the gushing praise not only on the jacket but also in the few pages of preamble is fully justified. I must read more by Claire Keegan. If there’s anything even more remarkable than the book, it’s how perfectly the film captures its essence.

There’s a line in the book that I remember well from the film

Many’s the man lost much because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.

Ain’t that the truth.

This entry was posted on June 23, 2025 at 8:44 pm and is filed under Literature with tags Claire Keegan, Foster. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.