Let's get the gushing out of the way up front! I loved, loved, loved So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan.
I've mentioned before that while I understood Keegan's reasons for ending Small Things Like These and Foster where she did, neither story had the impact on me that it had on other people. Keegan is a skilful writer, but novellas almost always leave me frustrated that they aren't longer. It's very much a me being weird about novellas problem, not a Keegan problem, as my love of this short story indicates!
It's a Friday like any other as Cathal leaves work and takes the bus home. Yet, he cannot stop thinking about Sabine. About their relationship, his actions, and her reactions. Or her actions and his reactions. As he settles in front of the TV with a bottle of champagne, he wonders what might have been.
As Cathal revisits his relationship with Sabine, the reader is drawn into a story with a growing sense of tension. A story that made me say, 'Wait, what?' multiple times because we only get Cathal's version of events, and he may not be as good a judge of what happened as he thinks.
As So Late in the Day unfolds, many readers will have flashes of recognition about just what Cathal seems unable to acknowledge. I am keeping this review deliberately vague because the joy of reading Keegan's work is knowing as little as possible. Keegan writes beautifully about ordinary lives, where something no one really wants to confront bubbles just under the surface.
That said, I would also love to hear Sabine's version of events in the form of a dual-POV novel. But I want most of my fiction told from multiple points of view. So, again, that's a me thing and not a Claire Keegan thing!
So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan is published by Faber & Faber.
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