There is a purity and simplicity to her prose, a luminosity that builds through the book.Īll through the walk, the wind blows hard and soft and hard again through the tall, flowering hedges, the high trees. Keegan writes beautifully about the gentle rhythms of country life.
I won’t reveal anything more about how the story plays out, other than to say that Keegan really lands the ending – it’s an unforgettable scene. We also learn a little more about the Kinsellas themselves, how past sorrows have almost certainly shaped their affection for the girl, whom they treat as one of their own.Īs the summer draws to a close, the sense of uncertainty about the future heightens, sharpening a little the atmosphere in the house. There’s time for some fun too, the occasional trip to town to buy clothes and sweets – when John gives the girl a pound note to spend, her eyes light up. Here she learns how to prepare fruit from the garden for jam and tarts, the simple rhythms of domestic life. As John works the land, preparing the crops for harvest, the girl helps Edna around the house, lighter work than she has been used to at home. With no children of their own at home, the Kinsellas treat the girl with love and compassion, demonstrating their values through simple acts of kindness. I keep waiting for something to happen, for the ease I feel to end – to wake in a wet bed, to make some blunder, some big gaffe, to break something – but each day follows on much like the one before. The story is narrated by the young girl herself (whose name we never learn), a viewpoint that gives the novella a beautiful sense of intimacy, perfectly capturing the uncertainty of not knowing how the future will pan out.Īnd so the days pass. With my mother it is all work: us, the butter-making, the dinners, the washing up and getting up and getting ready for Mass and school, weaning calves, and hiring men to plough and harrow the fields, stretching the money and setting the alarm. Like the girl’s parents, the Kinsellas are country folk, living and working on a farm – and yet the atmosphere feels more relaxed here than at home, less rushed with more space to think and breathe. The girl’s mother, Mary, is expecting a baby, and with a large family to support, the couple have chosen to take the girl to Wexford to ease the burden at home.Īlmost immediately the girl detects some differences in her new environment with John and Edna Kinsella. There she will stay with relatives, an aunt and uncle she doesn’t know, with no mention of a return date or the nature of the arrangement.
As Foster opens, a young girl from Clonegal, County Carlow is being driven to County Wexford by her father, Dan.
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