Antarctica: ‘A genuine once-in-a-generation writer.’ THE TIMES

These stories are laconically effective in causing a depression. If you don't know what existential nihilism is, Antarctica will teach you.

I have now read every word Claire Keegan wrote. That's how much I love her writing. Settings, characters, plot, dialogue, everything. The nitpick is--although the stories set in the Deep South were evocative, I was so jolted by terms such as "gas hob" which simply isn't an American term, let alone a Southern American term. They have the air of Flannery about them, but Flannery was a native of the place.However, I still give this book five stars because it is such incredible writing. I hope with all my heart that CK wins the Booker. More than that, I hope she writes another very soon!

I was so happy to discover Claire Keegan just recently. I'm only sorry she has not written more. Like William Trevor, she can capture a life in a very few words. Wonderful and magical.

Book arrived when promised and in great condition as described.

Having read Claire Keegan’s heartwarming Booker-nominated “Small Things Like These”, I was surprised to find that her debut collection of short stories was surprisingly dark and even sinister.In the titular opener, a woman seeking a thrilling fling with a stranger gets more than she bargains for. Adultery again features in the next story, “Love in the Tall Grass”, about an affair between a young woman and her married doctor, and what happens when the wife finds out about them.Something menacing lurks under the surface of most of these stories, and sometimes the threat is more explicit, such as in “You Can’t Be Too Careful”, where a man finds himself with a confession that may just do him in. “A Scent of Winter” details the aftermath of a violent crime and how sometimes one seeks justice outside of the law.Elsewhere, Keegan casts her keen eye on the politics of familial relationships, whether they be between siblings, such as in “Sister”, within the family in “Men and Women”, or between husband and wife in “Passport Soup”.While these topics are hardly earth-shattering, with her keen eye and lucid prose, Keegan beguiles, jolts and haunts us beyond the pages. Four-and-a-half stars.