'A genuine once-in-a-generation writer.' - The Times
'Every word is the right word in the right place, and the effect is resonant and deeply moving.' - Hilary Mantel
'Claire Keegan makes her moments real - and then she makes them matter.' - Colm Toibin
After an uneventful Friday at the Dublin office, Cathal faces into the long weekend and takes the bus home. There, his mind agitates over a woman named Sabine with whom he could have spent his life, had he acted differently. All evening, with only the television and a bottle of champagne for company, thoughts of this woman and others intrude - and the true significance of this particular date is revealed. From one of the finest writers working today, Keegan's new story asks if a lack of generosity might ruin what could be between men and women. Is it possible to love without sharing?
With both brevity and honesty, Claire Keegan once again explores the intricacies of human relationships with her short story So Late in the Day. Much like her previous book Small Things Like These, Keegan offers a character meditating on the state of his personal life and the choices that he should make. Yet with half the page numbers of her previous book, Keegan delivers an unexpected turn in her storytelling, subtly transforming a broader story of regret into a specific interrogation of casual misogyny.
What feels like a literary magic trick, So Late in the Day digs to the heart of how misogyny can simmer beneath the surface of a relationship, and the consequences of making the wrong choices. With prose sharp and direct, it will linger in the mind longer than one might expect.
- Jamil
