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1. ‘It’s cold in Canada!’ by Maria Bennett, Archives and Heritage, Group Services 2. ‘Orangutan in Malaysia’ by Paul Greenwood, ESBI O&M Solutions, Rousch, Pakistan 3. ‘Ferry from Manley to Sydney’ by Frank McAnulla, Ballycoolin, Networks 4. ‘Red Sika Deer Doe in Farran Wood on the Lee Resorvoir’ by Dave Carey, ESB Networks. 5. ‘Poolbeg - A view at dusk’ by Orla Maher, Energy International. 6. ‘Winter Robin’ by Michael Hughes, VS. 7. ‘Peering Cat’ by Susan Small, ICT Group 8. ‘Autumn Fruits’ by John Sorohan, LRP, Energy International. 9. ‘Dirt Bike’ by Kevin Grace, Generation Operations.
By Katherine Thorne
BOOK REVIEW
Foster
By Claire Keegan
Published by Faber and Faber
Price €6.99
ON A SUNDAY morning after Mass, a father drives his young daughter through Wexford county to deposit her with a family she knows nothing about. During the journey, she wonders whether these people will be kind or mean to her.
In fact, it turns out that the couple, John and Edna Kinsella, are childless, kind, and much better off financially than the little girl’s family.
She has been neglected by her parents but is taken in hand by John and Edna Kinsella in a manner that seems surprising for a childless couple. Soon she wishes “that this place without shame or secrets” could be her home.
She follows the daily routine with John and Edna but is intuitive enough to notice some slightly strange behaviour in the Kinsellas. She finds Edna one day crying inexplicably as she leaves the bathroom. Then on another occasion Edna pretends to a shopkeeper in Gorey that this little girl is her own daughter.
She is exposed to some new experiences such as being taken to an old fashioned Irish wake. John takes her to where “the black sea hisses up into loud frothy waves”.
Eventually, she discovers that there is a very painful secret in this household. A nosey neighbour is the informant but the secret throws light on so much of the strangeness in the Kinsella home.
This is a small book by any standards a novella rather than a novel. However, its scope far exceeds its length, especially in emotional terms. It conjures up authentic images of rural Ireland in the early eighties.
It is a book that would benefit from at least a second reading because, in the light of its revealed secret, we get a greater sense of the author’s skilful management of emotional details throughout the book.
This is a small book by any standards a novella rather than a novel.
