Small Things Like These (Oprah's Book Club)

Better than Dickens’A Christmas Carol!

What a simple parable of a story which reminds readers of the impact of day-to-day gentle, sincere kindness. Without preaching about hypocrisy, the readers discover through the eyes, feelings, memories, fears and hopes of a man, a husband, father of 5 daughters, who has lived in his village known by all. His childhood was defined by his “fatherless” status and his mother’s dependence on a war widow’s compassion. As lacking in material surpluses as his childhood had been, Furlong has realized the value of all that he ever received particularly during preparation for Christmas season. His reflections allow him to truly remember and connect 5he longevity of values of gifts received and the impact n him, especially when he had once only remembered “that” Christmas as one delivering, not the complicated jig saw puzzle he desired, but “other” gifts. And at this age and stage, he has connected his puzzle pieces of his life solving the unspoken, disconnected, and unseen into a clear image. With his growing clarity, he begins not only to see, to witness, and to engage with the customers he has served every day of the year for decades supplying them with fuel for warmth and cooking. And when he discovers a fragile, abused, and near frozen waif of a girl, too young to be a woman, too tortured to be a child, he rescues her from the outer shed, cloaks her in his coat, and accompanies her to the convent. Rather than ignore her or abandon her, he remains present observing and waiting until she is cleaned, clothed, and fed. And as Christmas Eve arrives, he makes a final journey gathering gifts for his family and making a final decision that will impact his family, all their lives, for he has realized the gifts of a recipient of small, great things throughout his life. Read more