Editors Reads Verdict
One of the most quietly devastating works of Irish fiction in the past fifty years. In 89 pages, Keegan renders a summer, a child, and the nature of love with a precision that most novelists cannot achieve in three times the length.
What We Loved
- 89 pages of absolute literary precision — the economy is extraordinary
- The child's first-person voice is rendered with total authenticity
- The contrast between the narrator's home and the Kinsellas' home is handled with remarkable subtlety
- The ending is perfectly calibrated — devastating without being manipulative
Minor Drawbacks
- At 89 pages it requires pairing with other work for readers wanting a sustained reading experience
- The rural Irish 1970s setting may require some contextual knowledge for non-Irish readers
Key Takeaways
- → Care and love are not the same thing — the absence of the latter defines the narrator's home
- → A child's capacity for silence and observation is itself a form of understanding
- → The rural Irish summer is rendered as both ordinary and luminous
| Author | Claire Keegan |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Grove Press |
| Pages | 89 |
| Published | September 2, 2010 |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction, Irish Literature, Coming of Age |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| Best For | Readers of literary fiction, Irish fiction, and short-form narrative. Often paired with Small Things Like These as a two-work introduction to Keegan. |
Foster is a novella published first in The New Yorker in 2010 and then as a standalone book by Faber & Faber. It is narrated by a young girl — never named — who is left for the summer with the Kinsellas, relatives of her father, while her mother is expecting another child. The Kinsellas are childless. They live carefully and quietly. They feed the narrator, talk to her, listen to her, take her to the sea. These ordinary attentions are extraordinary to a child who has not experienced them before.
Keegan tells the story entirely from the child’s perspective, and the child’s perspective is one of pure observation — she records what she sees and hears without fully understanding its implications. The reader, however, understands. What the novella describes, underneath its quiet surface, is a child experiencing for the first time what it feels like to be wanted.
The contrast between the Kinsellas’ household and the narrator’s home is never stated directly. Keegan trusts the reader to feel it. The narrator does not complain about her parents. She does not analyse the difference between her two summers. She simply lives in each one, and the reader does the work.
Foster was longlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was recognised across the literary press as a work of rare accomplishment. It is routinely taught in university literature courses as an example of what short fiction at the highest level can achieve. For readers new to Keegan, it is the right place to start — it can be read in two hours and will justify the longer commitment that Small Things Like These requires.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Foster" about?
A young girl is sent to spend the summer with relatives in rural County Wexford, Ireland, in the 1970s, and discovers for the first time what it means to be cared for unconditionally.
Who should read "Foster"?
Readers of literary fiction, Irish fiction, and short-form narrative. Often paired with Small Things Like These as a two-work introduction to Keegan.
What are the key takeaways from "Foster"?
Care and love are not the same thing — the absence of the latter defines the narrator's home A child's capacity for silence and observation is itself a form of understanding The rural Irish summer is rendered as both ordinary and luminous
Is "Foster" worth reading?
One of the most quietly devastating works of Irish fiction in the past fifty years. In 89 pages, Keegan renders a summer, a child, and the nature of love with a precision that most novelists cannot achieve in three times the length.
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