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Foster

by Claire Keegan

4.03 · Rating Details · 971 Ratings · 143 Reviews

A small girl is sent to live with foster parents on a farm in rural Ireland, without knowing when she will return home. In the strangers’ house, she finds a warmth and affection she has not known before and slowly begins to blossom in their care. And then a secret is revealed and suddenly, she realizes how fragile her idyll is.

Winner of the Davy Byrnes Memorial Prize, Fost ...more

Paperback, 89 pages

Published February 10th 2010 by Faber & Faber (first published 2010)

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Lists with This Book

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Best Irish Books

90th out of 498 books — 401 voters

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

50 books that will change your life: Real Simple

39th out of 50 books — 14 voters

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Community Reviews

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Aug 12, 2013 ·Karen· rated it really liked it

Shelves: ireland, best-of-2013

"You don't ever have to say anything," he says. "Always remember that as a thing you need never do. Many's the man lost much just because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing."

Secrets and Lies in 1981 County Wexford. 88 perfect pages. Faultless, graceful, haunting. I hope Keegan writes more soon. Well, not more. Because it's what she leaves out that makes it such a marvel, so no, not more. But more of this kind of minimalism. A starvation diet like the hunger striker whose death forms ...more

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Oct 18, 2014 Kinga rated it really liked it

Shelves: random

The first confusion is the cover and the title. Almost monochromatic, some children and ‘Foster’ written across in big letter. I was ready to dismiss it as another product of misery lit but before I turned away I noticed something about the ‘New Yorker’. As it turns out, Claire Keegan is an accomplished writer and ‘Foster’ appeared as a short story in the New Yorker before it appeared in a slightly expanded version as a stand-alone book. For a publisher to do something as reckless as to publish The first confusion is the cover and the title. Almost monochromatic, some children and ‘Foster’ written across in big letter. I was ready to dismiss it as another product of misery lit but before I turned away I noticed something about the ‘New Yorker’. As it turns out, Claire Keegan is an accomplished writer and ‘Foster’ appeared as a short story in the New Yorker before it appeared in a slightly expanded version as a stand-alone book. For a publisher to do something as reckless as to publish one short story in a separate book must mean it’s a true gem.

The second confusion are the Irishisms - ‘What way are you?’ – how that confused me at first before I figured out it’s just Irish for ‘how are you?’.

From then on I could just sit back, relax and enjoy this little thing. I remember I was reading it late at night, home alone, sprawled on the sofa, wondering if the rain would lull me to sleep before I finish reading.

Keegan’s writing is very delicate and unassuming. This book would step back and let me sleep if I needed to. It would then gently penetrate the periphery of my dreams.
In one of the interviews Keegan said: "It's essentially about trusting in the reader's intelligence rather than labouring a point. To work on the level of suggestion is what I aim for in all my writing."

What we know of the story is what we fill the gaps with. A little girl is brought by her father to spend the summer with the Kinsellas on a farm. Only through her reactions we learn how different her life at home is to what she experiences with her temporary foster parents. It’s a different sort of farm and a different sort of parents. For those summer months she is the only child suddenly, valued, appreciated and cherished. Yet, there is no gut-wrenching drama (that the cover would imply). The most emotional moment for me was a scene at the beach where the girl was taken by her foster father. On the way back he is trying to retrace his steps but he can’t find his own footprints, only the girl’s. So he says

“You must have carried me there.”
...more

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Feb 25, 2016 Kevin rated it really liked it

Every sentence carries weight and every image is relevant. Great stuff.

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Apr 29, 2012 Ingrid Fasquelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Une courte critique pour un court roman. Il ne faut pas y voir de désintérêt de ma part mais de ce roman lumineux (ou de cette nouvelle, à moins qu'il ne s'agisse finalement d'un conte...) moins on en dit, mieux c'est ! Car ici, Claire Keegan laisse le lecteur libre de ressentir le foisonnement des émotions et des sentiments que son histoire suscite, celle toute simple d'une petite fille en manque d'amour et d'attention, recueillie le temps d'un été par un coupe de fermiers taiseux et taciturnes ...more

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Dec 06, 2015 Claire McAlpine rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, irish-literature

'Early on a Sunday, after first Mass at Clonegal, my father, instead of taking me home, drives deep into Wexford towards the coast where my mother's people came from.'

She wears light, worn clothing and brings nothing with her. The girl is left with the Kinsella family, the father returns to her mother, soon to give birth again. There is no goodbye or word of when he might return. This is Ireland. Remember Nora Webster and all that is unspoken?

So begins Claire Keegan's long, short story Foster, a vivid telling of the period following a girl being fostered into a family in rural Ireland. In the stranger's home she finds an atmosphere unlike that which she is used to, one she enjoys and becomes used to, though always there is the presence of that feeling that it might soon all be taken from her.

'When I follow the woman back inside, I want her to say something, to put my mind at ease. Instead, she clears the table, picks up the sharp knife and stands in the light under the window, washing the blade under the running tap.'

Seen and heard from the perspective of the girl, we learn the circumstances of both families that led to this situation. They fall into a regular routine, life settles in this new family and nothing appears to happen to destroy the ease with which the girl has come to know.

There is a strange atmosphere throughout the book, it is the anticipation of something, we, like the girl, are wondering and waiting for it to happen. For she seems like the pawn on the chess board, her parents on one side having handed her over, the foster parents on the other having received her. Each move, every event that is outside the daily routine, ignites in the girl heightened powers of observation, developing an acute awareness of even the most subtle changes in those around her.

'Kinsella looks at me and smiles a hard kind of a smile then looks over to the window ledge where a sparrow has come down to perch and readjust her wings. The little bird seems uneasy - as though she can scent the cat, who sometimes sits there. Kinsella's eyes are not quite still in his head. It's as though there's a big piece of trouble stretching itself out in the back of his mind. He toes the leg of a chair and looks over at me.'

A touching and yet eerie telling of a story that begs to be read and reread, the writing is exquisite in its depiction and ability to create a taut atmosphere without significant plot, it showcases an author with an immense talent for the short story and makes the reader want more.

Claire Keegan is an Irish writer highly regarded for her award-winning short stories, she has published two collections Antarctica (1999) and Walk the Blue Fields (2007). ...more

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Jun 13, 2014 Brenda Cregor rated it it was amazing

*SPOILER ALERT*

This story is simple.
Simple language.
Simple characters.
Simple plot.

No graphic horrors.

The genius of this short story
[ and, though it is in "book form", that is what it is]
lies with its surprise ending.

I was surprised I did not want the girl to return to her parents.

Why?

There were no clues that she had been abused or neglected
[beyond the "neglect" that comes to any child in a large family] by her biological parents.

It is true her family was very poor, but there is no particular
e ...more

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May 26, 2011 Siobhan rated it it was amazing

I found this book very warm, yet a little confused as I progressed through the story. As I moved from page to page I had so many questions for the little girl, and then found I had so many questions for both set of adults.You start by looking through the childs eyes of the world around her and see how detached she is from the whole situation. I began to wonder how many children are in the house altogther, why did they send her with nothing only the clothes on her back. You begin to move to the f ...more

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Aug 21, 2013 Diane S ☔ rated it really liked it

The language is sparse, the young girl never has her name mentioned, rather she is called tulip and other names. Poignant, sensitive, endearing and bittersweet. So much is related in such a small book. Enjoyed this novella very much.

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Jan 26, 2011 Teresa rated it it was amazing

Wow! What an absolutely beautiful, scintillating gem of a book – 96 pages of pure perfection. If I was to recommend a book to all of my friends, both avid and reluctant readers, it would be this, described as a “long, short story” rather than a novella.

Winner of the Davy Byrnes Irish Writing Award in 2009, Claire Keegan has excelled herself here, in a long story which was originally published in a shorter form, in The New Yorker. Without giving away too much of the plot, our narrator, an unnamed Wow! What an absolutely beautiful, scintillating gem of a book – 96 pages of pure perfection. If I was to recommend a book to all of my friends, both avid and reluctant readers, it would be this, described as a “long, short story” rather than a novella.

Winner of the Davy Byrnes Irish Writing Award in 2009, Claire Keegan has excelled herself here, in a long story which was originally published in a shorter form, in The New Yorker. Without giving away too much of the plot, our narrator, an unnamed young girl, is taken by her father to a farm in Wexford to be “fostered” out to the Kinsellas for the summer months while her mother gets ready for the birth of yet another child. The impression given is that the girl comes from a near-impoverished background with a father who is a loafer and a mother who strives to keep their heads above water. Therefore, she is thrown into a totally alien environment amongst strangers – yes, its rural, farm setting is similar to her own home but there the similarities end.

Foster is too short to be a coming of age story but it is certainly a “coming of awareness” story in that our narrator’s view of the world is vastly expanded in the space of one hot summer, and we don’t have many of those in Ireland, I can tell you! I loved the fact that it’s not a sterotypically Irish tale of woe and misery – of course, alcohol does feature but in the context of a wake at which it is the norm to toast the deceased. Instead it’s a timeless tale of rural Irish life in which the bleatings of the outside world are somewhat muffled. Indeed, apart from a passing reference to the death of one of the strikers (the H Block Hunger Strike in the early 80s), you would think you were in a bygone era.

The writing is exquisite, so simple, yet carrying such underlying emotion and meaning. I stand in awe of a writer who can capture the essence of rural Ireland and the story of a young girl’s engagement with the world in so few words. Small is indeed beautiful and I wholeheartedly recommend this story to all readers.

...more

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Jun 11, 2014 J. O'Brien rated it it was amazing

One of the best books I've read in a long time. It's not a long story, more of a novella really but that doesn't matter, it's as long as it needs to be.

Keegan tells her story with restraint, honesty and a sense of truth that is refreshing. She does not intrude on the narrative with a showy voice, or stylistic verbosity, she simply lets the story unfold as it needs to. I admire this greatly. She allows the characters and their world to live and breath.

This is what Literary fiction is made for. ...more

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Jan 07, 2015 Eilish rated it really liked it

Gorgeous little book!

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Sep 26, 2012 Vivian Valvano rated it it was amazing

I am very impressed with Claire Keegan's work, especially her superb story collection WALK THE BLUE FIELDS. "Foster" was originally published as a short story in THE NEW YORKER in February 2010. Winner of the Davy Byrnes Award, it was revised and expanded and published by Faber and Faber in book form, FOSTER. In the realm of long stories (85 pages in print in Faber edition), this is, in a word, a gem. I was blown away when I read THE NEW YORKER version and immediately ordered the book. The revis ...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Lisa Guidarini rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library-book, novella, ireland, fiction-general

Her mother pregnant with the latest of her seemingly endless siblings, Leanbh is sent to live with her aunt and uncle on a farm in Wexford, to help lighten the load on her mother shoulders. At home she had been tasked with chores around the farm, unused to rest or hanging about the house. Yet, the first thing she's told at her new, temporary home is she'll be doing none of the outside work. Instead, she'll stay around the house and help out her aunt.

For the only time in her life, for one brief,

Her mother pregnant with the latest of her seemingly endless siblings, Leanbh is sent to live with her aunt and uncle on a farm in Wexford, to help lighten the load on her mother shoulders. At home she had been tasked with chores around the farm, unused to rest or hanging about the house. Yet, the first thing she's told at her new, temporary home is she'll be doing none of the outside work. Instead, she'll stay around the house and help out her aunt.

For the only time in her life, for one brief, fleeting moment, Leanbh is an only child, looked after and cared for as if she were a gem more precious than money:

"There's a big moon shining on the yard, chalking our way onto the lane and along the road. Kinsella takes my hand in his. As soon as he takes it, I realise my father has never once held my hand, and some part of me wants Kinsella to let me go so I won't have to feel this. It's a hard feeling but as we walk along I begin to settle and let the difference between my life at home and the one I have here be. He takes small steps so we can walk in time. I think about the woman in the cottage, of how she walked and spoke, and conclude that there are huge differences between people."

In this short, spare novella Keegan brings out one ordinary Irish country child and two ordinary Irish country families, drawing from their stories the basic truths of life and love. From a life of survival, barely skimping along, to a home full of love, patience and a little money to spare, a little girl gets one peek into how different her life may have been.

The end of this book will break your heart. No matter what you expect will happen, Keegan has a deft touch. Her spare, stoic prose is absolutely stunning. A flawless book.

_____________________________

For Foster Claire Keegan won the Davy Byrnes Award, the world's largest prize for a story. It was previously published, in shorter form, in the New Yorker.

I immediately put her other books on interlibrary loan after I closed the cover of this one. She has two previous collections of stories: Antarctica (LA Times Book of the Year, Rooney Prize for Literature) and Walk the Blue Fields (2008 Edge Hill Prize for Short Stories for the finest book of stories in the British Isles).

Information about Keegan is sparse. She's not one to chat on the internet. I found her agent and that's about it. She's taught at several universities and won loads more prizes than I included above. And that's all to be had about her, more's the pity. ...more

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Jun 09, 2014 Teresa Mills-clark rated it it was amazing

This is one of the books I bought while in Ireland by and Irish author.

Poignant. It caused me to smile and sigh and shed tears.

Here's a quote to mull over:

" 'Ah, the women are nearly always right, all the same,' he says. 'Do you know what the women have a gift for?'
'What?'
'Eventualities. A good wamn can look far down the line and smell what's coming before a man even gets a sniff of it.' "

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Apr 03, 2012 Sandy rated it it was amazing

Originally a short story expanded into this gem of a "novella," Foster tells the story of the summer of a young Irish girl, fostered out to an older couple as her mother tries to cope with an upcoming birth on top of an already large family. So much emotion and meaning is packed into 88 pages narrated by the young girl. I came quickly to care about all the characters, so fully described with so few words. The language is absolutely beautiful - "My heart does not so much feel that is in my chest ...more

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Oct 05, 2014 Farzane rated it really liked it

تولد چقدر وحشتناکه!! دنیا چقدر وحشتناکه!! قلبم به درد اومده

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Sep 12, 2015 Alma Q rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: r-2014, very-personal-copies, them-families, where-the-heart-lies, illness-and-disability, lets-kill-the-cat, snatched-from-others, honorary-mentions, english-original, ebook, 5-stars-or-close

* I listened to an audio abridged by Neville Teller and have not read the book.

But now I want to go get a copy of the actual text. I have a funny feeling that first extending a short story into a short novel and then abridging said short novel has not done any good to Keegan's story or prose, which, I have no doubt, I will love even more than I love Evanna Lynch's voice narrate this bleakishly cute little piece of art.

(If the actual thing really can be described that way; I have frankly no idea ...more

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Mar 26, 2016 Valieyka rated it really liked it · review of another edition

«Виховання» Клер Кіґан – це щось середнє між розповіддю та повістю. В основі книги історія з життя дівчинки, яка опиняється в родині незнайомих їй людей. Відверто кажучи, батьки просто хочуть позбутися старшої доньки хоч на деякий час, бо і так мають багато менших за неї дітей. Дівчинка з того не дуже переживає, тим паче, що подружжя в якого її залишають, лагідні та чуйні люди.
Разом з жінкою вони займаються буденними справами: готують, прибирають в будинку, ходять по магазинах… Спочатку дівчинка «Виховання» Клер Кіґан – це щось середнє між розповіддю та повістю. В основі книги історія з життя дівчинки, яка опиняється в родині незнайомих їй людей. Відверто кажучи, батьки просто хочуть позбутися старшої доньки хоч на деякий час, бо і так мають багато менших за неї дітей. Дівчинка з того не дуже переживає, тим паче, що подружжя в якого її залишають, лагідні та чуйні люди.
Разом з жінкою вони займаються буденними справами: готують, прибирають в будинку, ходять по магазинах… Спочатку дівчинка весь час боїться зробити, або сказати щось не те. Але кожного ранку, коли вона прокидається все добре. І вона починає звикати.
З дорослими дівча спілкується щиро та безпосередньо, з дитячою відвертістю. До неї ставляться так само, адже таємниці породжують сором, а «без сорому можна і обійтися».
За короткий час з цими людьми вона отримає стільки любові й турботи, як ніколи і не від кого вдома. Проте строк її гостювання добігає кінця і дівчинку повертають батькам. Та от відпустити нову родину в неї так легко не вийде. В цьому і є вся суть виховання.
Не можу сказати, що книжка зачепила мене за живе. Чогось для мене в цій історії забракло. Може тому, що я очікувала дещо більшого. Швидко прочитала і швидко забула. ...more

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Oct 01, 2014 Jodi rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 14, 2014 Gail Slater rated it it was amazing

I cannot recommend the Irish writer Claire Keegan enough. Foster is a novella that has the heft and satisfaction of a long novel because the writing conveys a felt experience. A child is sent to the home of relatives she doesn't know. It's rural Ireland in the not too distant past, and when I read that on the flyleaf and saw the title, I thought I can't bear another story about child abuse... There's a sub-genre in books written for women called Misery Lit, but this is not about that. Foster is ...more

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Nov 15, 2014 Sara rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult

Was a good short story with a good storyline:)

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Jan 30, 2016 Aishling rated it liked it

Recommends it for: People looking for a simple or quick read

Recommended to Aishling by: English Teacher

Shelves: moderately-liked

I liked this book. I liked the plot and the way Clair Keegan wrote from a child's perspective (which she did wonderfully!) and I liked the characters. The writing was simple and the theme was easy to comprehend. The ending is where I get lost. I don't really understand it and it has been explained (kind of) to me but maybe I'm just thick. I felt a certain childhood innocence from the child, who is never actually named in the book, and I really liked her narration of the book. 3 stars because I r ...more

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Jun 23, 2015 Aoife rated it it was amazing

Absolutely beautiful. Where to even start? Keegan's writing is unassuming, gentle, yet massively poignant. This story brought tears to my eyes and I have yet to decide if they are happy or sad ones...maybe a bit of both!

I read this in one sitting...how could I not? It's certainly a text that makes you think deeply and leaves you with a jumble of emotions and a sigh upon its completion.

I read this for a literature class at University and it is by far my favorite Irish text to have read: EVER, a ...more

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Nov 19, 2014 Brenda Otto rated it it was amazing

I was completely enamored of this author after reading her short story "Foster", which was included in a compilation of works featured in the Best American Short Stories 2011. Her writing was so real, her descriptive narrative so effective that I felt as though I was IN the story, interacting with her characters instead of reading about them. Her dialogue especially was written so naturally, the story was never interrupted by choppy, contrived conversations that, when not written well, can unfor ...more

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Feb 18, 2015 Orla Mcbride rated it really liked it

Just a gorgeous little book , loved it

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Dec 24, 2012 Adriana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Me gusta este género "novela corta". No sé por qué a todos les gustó tanto el final.

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Feb 12, 2016 María Belén added it · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, contemporary, ireland, adult

This is sensitive, poignant and graceful. In my opinion, her best work yet.

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Nov 26, 2015 ☆Dani☆ rated it liked it

It was alright. Really pretty writing, dialogue you could hear clearly and strong emotions on every page.

I just never really clicked with it, and honestly, that's a completely a personal thing. I just don't do short stories, and that's all this is really, an extended version of a short story.

That doesn't mean it's not good, it just means I struggle with short stories, because no matter how well written they are, I can't connect with the world or the characters properly. So yeah, a very well-writ ...more

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Nov 13, 2015 Fabienne rated it really liked it

On 80 pages, written out of the perspective of a child, Keegan narrates the story of a girl taken away from her large, poor family to stay with a couple she does not know so well and which has, as she soon discovers, a secret. Nevertheless, she receives love and tenderness, things she did not know in her old family. Nevertheless, after a while, she has to go back...
A simple plot, written in wonderful, highly emotional language.
As with most novellas: A lot is left unsaid, the reader is asked to f ...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Palma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

previsible, pero previsible bien

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About Claire Keegan

Claire Keegan was born in Wexford in 1968.
Her story collections are Antarctica (London, Faber and Faber, 1999/New York, Grove/Atlantic, 1999); Walk the Blue Fields (Faber and Faber, 2007/ Grove Press, Black Cat, 2008); and the single story Foster (Faber and Faber, 2010).
Her awards include The Francis MacManus Award; The William Trevor Prize; the Olive Cook Award; the Los Angeles Times Book of the ...more

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Davy Byrnes Stories: The Six Prize Winning Stories From The 2009 Davy Byrnes Irish Writing Award As Selected By Richard Ford

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Quotes from Foster

“Many's the man lost much just because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.” — 5 likes

“Eventualities. A good woman can look far down the line and smell what is coming before a man even gets a sniff of it.” — 2 likes

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