"How still it was up here but why was it not ever peaceful? The day had not yet dawned, and Furlong looked down at the dark shining river whose surface reflected equal parts of the lighted town. So many things had a way of looking finer, when they were not so close."

There is a convent in the town, that looks pretty fine from a distance, but houses a Magdalene laundry that the Irish townspeople don't talk much about. Bill Furlong, the coal merchant has lived a life defined by small things: some good, some bad, some comforting, some routine. When he goes to the convent a couple of days before Christmas to deliver coal, he inadvertently comes across a shivering, coatless, and barefoot young girl locked in the coal shed. Suddenly he is confronted with a big thing and his life is upended.

Keegan's sleight of hand is evidenced by the vast amount of detail and meaning packed into this little, 114 page book. She explores what happens when an ordinary person is confronted with extraordinary circumstances that involve a life changing decision, and why some of us can rise to the occasion and some of us can't. Focus is given to the importance of family and to the wonder to be found in the routine when it can be carried out in peace and safety.

And Bill Furlong is one of the best dads ever to appear in any fiction I've read. He movingly tells his little daughter Loretta that she doesn't have to talk to Santa if she doesn't want to, honoring her fear instead of pushing her forward and telling her not to be afraid as most parents would. He is solicitous towards his wife and kind to people in the town. It's rare to have a positive male dad, husband, and neighbor character in a novel, and although he may be a bit too good to be true at times, he mostly made me genuinely like him. This book happens over a few days at Christmas, and it deserves to become a Christmas classic because it really gets to the bottom of what makes us human.

I changed my rating because after this second read for my book discussion, I can say that the beauty and wisdom of Small Things Like These is just awesome.