Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

How can such a small book have so much power? Because Claire wrote it. I left my heart in the last chapter. It should be mandatory reading for everyone ever. A story set in the week leading up to Christmas in an Irish town. No spoilers.

From the back

It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces into his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him - and encounters the complicit silences of a people controlled by the Church.