Claire Keegan
Foster by Claire Keegan is a quiet, tender story about a young Irish girl’s stay with foster parents during a summer.
The story unfolds in the first-person point of view of the young girl. Her father unceremoniously drops her off at a farm to live with her mother’s relatives while her mother prepares to have yet another child. Initially, the girl takes tremulous steps in her unfamiliar surroundings. She is fearful of doing the wrong thing and anticipates a verbal reprimand—or worse—at every turn. Instead, the foster couple shower her with love, and a kindness and respect she has never known. She compares the cramped atmosphere in her home with the expansive atmosphere in her foster parents’ home. Astute and observant, she is attuned to subtle changes in those around her. Slowly but surely, the girl blossoms, becoming more confident and secure in the routine of their daily lives.
There is little to no plot in the story. The movement is slow; the diction lyrical. Keegan’s prose is subtle, leaving the reader to fill in the gaps and draw conclusions. She hints at the girl’s challenging home life in a poverty-stricken family with more children than her parents can handle. The story builds up slowly to the final, heart-breaking scene when the girl has to return home to her parents.
A touching, beautiful story that unfolds in subtle diction and subdued tone.