Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan 

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

BBC Radio Ulster

BBC Radio Foyle

BBC Radio 4 LW

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan: Episode 5

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Episode 5

BBC Radio 4 - Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, Episode 5

On Christmas Eve, Furlong is faced with an impossible decision.

After celebrating Christmas Eve with his employees, Furlong receives some words of warning. Read by Don Wycherley.

It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces into his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him — and encounters the complicit silences of a people controlled by the Church.
The long-awaited new work from the internationally bestselling author of ‘Foster’, ‘Small Things Like These’ is an unforgettable story of hope, quiet heroism and tenderness. 

The Author
Claire Keegan was born and grew up on a farm in Wicklow, Ireland. Her first collection of short stories ‘Antarctica’ was awarded the Rooney Prize for Literature. Her second short story collection ‘Walk the Blue Fields’ won the 2008 Edge Hill Prize for Short Stories. In 2021, the Ireland Francophonie Ambassadors’ Literary Award was awarded to the French translation of ‘Small Things Like These’. 

Reader: Don Wycherley
Writer: Claire Keegan
Abridger: Doreen Estall
Producer: Michael Shannon
Exec Editor: Andy Martin
A BBC Northern Ireland production.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Audiobooks

Podcasts

Drama

Local coal merchant Bill Furlong prepares for Christmas with his wife and five daughters.

As local coal merchant Bill Furlong prepares for Christmas with his wife and five daughters, he reflects on how he came from less than nothing. Read by Don Wycherley.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

Episode 5

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4