What’s better than a Claire Keegan story? Multiple Claire Keegan stories! Walk the Blue Fields was a library book request I made following Foster, a story I absolutely adored, and I am so happy to have more works of hers in hand. Both gut-wrenching and grand, these stories will transport you and throw you into the lives of these characters without a spare second to brace yourself.

Walk the Blue Fields is an unforgettable array of quietly wrenching stories about despair and desire in the timeless world of modern-day Ireland. In the never-before-published story “The Long and Painful Death,” a writer awarded a stay to work in Heinrich Böll’s old cottage has her peace interrupted by an unwelcome intruder, whose ulterior motives only emerge as the night progresses. In the title story, a priest waits at the altar to perform a marriage and, during the ceremony and the festivities that follow, battles his memories of a love affair with the bride that led him to question all to which he has dedicated his life; later that night, he finds an unlikely answer in the magical healing powers of a seer. A masterful portrait of a country wrestling with its past and of individuals eking out their futures, Walk the Blue Fields is a breathtaking collection from one of Ireland’s greatest talents, and a resounding articulation of all the yearnings of the human heart.

If you are familiar with Claire Keegan’s later works, then I want to note something for you. Her earlier work in Walk the Blue Fields, while still incredible, lacks a precision that her more popular, later works have like Foster and Small Things Like These. In these books, the themes and characters are sharp, the intention a gut punch that leaves a bruise. There are a few stories in this collection that have that feel to them, but I do think that she shows a more novice style of writing here. I still like it a lot, so don’t think it is a worse way of writing or less worthy of being published. I just don’t get the same deep connection and reading experience with these works like I did in her other works.

The setting description and character interactions are precious and almost feel nostalgic, giving a more sombre, maybe even melancholic tone to the stories. These are wonderful stories, and Claire Keegan is much deserving of the praise, critical acclaim, and accolades for her writing. The Ireland in her works feels lush and rich within the texts, like a living, breathing thing, and the lifestyle of the everyday person carries such emotional weight and force in the face of the feelings and themes of each short story. Out of all of them, I think Walk the Blue Fields stands out to me the most, but I did enjoy Close to the Water’s Edge. These felt like that had that Claire Keegan spark that I see in Foster and Small Things Like These.

I’m keen to read more of these collections though, and I will have to get my hands on her short story collection Antarctica to get a sense of her true beginning as a published writer. She has such an extensive publishing history, and reading her work throughout all the stages will be a great way to see the evolution of her writing and her as a writer.