Bill Furlong

The central character in Small Things Like These is Bill Furlong, the coal and timber merchant in New Ross. Furlong is a hard-working, well-liked, tender-hearted man. He “had come from nothing. Less than nothing, some might say” (5). When his mother was sixteen, she became pregnant by a man unknown to Furlong. Although Furlong’s mother’s family forced her to leave their home, her employer—a kind widow named Mrs. Wilson—took her in. Furlong then grew up in Mrs. Wilson’s home. She “took him under her wing, gave him little jobs and helped him along with his reading” (6). Furlong later attended technical school before finding work in the coal yard. There, he found success because he had “a head for business, was known for getting along, and could be relied upon” (7).

The novella follows Furlong in the weeks leading up to Christmas 1985. He focuses his...