Lyrical, spare, and haunting, Foster by Claire Keegan, is an amazing novella. I read this with no knowledge of Claire Keegan's writing or previous acclaim, and was blown away -- it seems to be such a simple story, but like a faberge egg, it is a a jeweled treasure. Highly recommended for those who love spare, evocative writing and narratives whose scenes and phrases reverberate after reading the way only the best stories can. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

Foster is quite short (it took about an hour to read) but it contains an entire novel’s worth of story and emotional depth. Set in the early ‘80s in rural County Wexford, Ireland, a young girl is sent to live with an aunt and uncle she has never met while her overworked mother prepares for the birth of her fifth child. I do love an Irish storyteller, and Foster delighted me in setting and voice. Author Claire Keegan packs so much into this — between what is written and what remains unsaid — and in no small measure, it filled and broke my heart. A complete pleasure, I will definitely read Keegan again.

If I could summarise the book with one word it would be “confusion”.
From the first page I was confused. I didn’t understand the characters, who they were or their relationship to one another. Especially with the kinsellas. Both Mr and Mrs are frequently referred to as just kinsella and I was always confused as which was which.
The book is obviously written in an accent but it’s confusing. I struggled to understand a lot of the sentences and what they meant.
I don’t wholly understand the plot or the point of the story. I enjoyed it but didn’t understand the plot.
I feel as though it was missing context and i was left with a lot of questions,
Why was the child at the kinsellas?
What was the motive behind the kinsellas looking after the child?
Is the child related to the kinsellas? Is that why the looked after her for the summer?
What happened with the kinsellas first child? Personally I would’ve liked some more context with it.
The ending was confusing. The child runs off and I’m assuming to mr kinsella. The child’s father is walking towards them and the child says he’s her daddy. Who is she talking about? Her biological father or mr kinsella? also, wasn’t mr kinsella in a car? why was he outside of the car for the child to run into his arms?

Overall I’m confused about the book. For the most part I enjoyed the writing and the way the characters came across. I was constantly expecting the kinsellas to do something bad to the child and I think I like that they didn’t. I feel as though the story holds a lot of promise provided more context is added.

"A new place and new words are needed."

Claire Keegan presents a little novella that is compact in size, but it is impactful in its telling. Keegan takes us to Clonegal, Ireland where we stand with a young girl who struggles with the parting of an emotional sea. Her father coaxes her into the back seat of the car as she nervously unties the braids that her mother tied so tightly just moments ago. Undoing the past.......uncertain of the future.

Keegan keeps the girl's name in her closed palm. We never know of it. But what we do know is the rush to take this girl to her mother's people, the Kinsellas who live in Wexford on the coast. Mary, her mother, is about to give birth to the next one in line and Dan, her father, wishes to be done with the task of dropping her off.

Edna and John Kinsella welcome the child with open arms. This "girleen" will be a great help to Edna. And the days go by with chores checked off on this farm. The girl warms to the touch of them both and begins to feel valued for the first time. But she knows not when her father will return for her. "I am in a spot where I can neither be what I always am nor turn into what I could be."

And then the curtain is lifted and the young girl will come upon a secret that Edna and John have kept in the warming place in their hearts. The child is so limited in her ability to express an emotion so tender and so volatile. And Claire Keegan will find a voice for her characters like no other. Raw, heartfelt, sorrowful, and bitter sweet. Keegan knows the soft nudge of compassion and the deep knowing of the heavy footprints left behind in one's journey in life. Secrets in the dark recesses brought into the light.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Grove Atlantic Press and to the talented Claire Keegan for the opportunity.

*I received a copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this opportunity*

This novella manages, with its sparse language and rousing narration, to tell a wide story of a little girl. She is not abused by her family, and the only neglect comes from being lost in a large family, but there is a sense that the unnamed narrator knows her own worthlessness. And, when fostered to a welcoming home with unconditional love and genuine affection, she blossoms into someone with self worth and has the necessary resources to grow.

Set in the 1980s, FOSTER is the story of a little girl's summer spent with a foster family to alleviate her birth family's financial burden for a season. She is unfamiliar with modern comforts such as hot water on tap, and slowly begins to find her place in the new house. FOSTER is written in a very calculated way-- not a single word is wasted, and each sentence weaves into the larger tapestry with purpose. Though it's a relatively quick read, FOSTER is not easy to forget.

I’ve read Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These a year ago and liked it so much, I downloaded this book immediately off Netgalley. Some people are just natural storytellers. Keegan’s like that; her narrative is a free-flowing thing of beauty. A lovely trip to Ireland each time.
Keegan’s books are short (and I do appreciate their brevity), but they skimp on nothing. There is a profound depth of emotion here, perfectly dimensionalized and vivid descriptions, it engages the reader completely.
Plot wise it’s a very simple story of a summer foster who goes from a not particularly happy and much too large biological family to a nice couple scarred by a personal tragedy. The juxtaposition of two family dynamics, of two experiences, of two kinds of parental love is the thing at play here. Reader beware, this story will strum your emotional strings like a Spanish guitar. Or an Irish fiddle, would probably be more appropriate.
Lovely, absolutely, lovely. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

I read this in one day. What a lovely little story about a young girl taken in by relatives for the summer. It was beautifully written, I could feel the characters' sadness without it explicitly being stated. The descriptions of the countryside were so vivid, I felt like I was there. I have already checked out another book by Claire Keegan, I love her writing so much.