A gut punch in 118 pages. In 1985, Irishman Bill Furlong, coal merchant, husband and father of five, decides to take on one of the many horrifying abuses of the Catholic Church in Ireland. He knows it could cost him his relationship with his wife and the love of his daughters, not to mention axe his ability to support them by wiping out his entire customer base, but in the end he decides he can’t unsee what he has seen.
The worst was yet to come, he knew. Already he could feel a world of trouble waiting for him behind the next door, but the worst that could have happened was also already behind him; the thing not done, which could have been–which he would have had to live with for the rest of his life.
I think it was Edmund Burke who said that all it takes for evil to exist is for good men to do nothing. Bill does something, and not a small thing, either, and I’m sure he paid the price, but I loved him for it. Beautifully written, highly recommended.
Book Review Monday Chatter Claire Keegan Small Things Like These