Shibby Magee

 

This book will make you laugh out loud and then quickly break your heart.

And somehow Carrie Kabak pulls it off on every single page.

Some books just get under your skin. Shibby Magee by Carrie Kabak is one of them.

When Shibby and her twin sister Dorah are eleven, their mother vanishes — dropping the bombshell on her way out that she’s an Irish Traveller returning to her community. What follows is a lifetime of fallout. Nanna Magee never forgives her son Benny for marrying a Traveller woman, and she makes sure everyone feels her contempt for it. Shibby spends decades chasing love and acceptance from people who seem constitutionally unable to give it — her cold, prejudiced grandmother, her emotionally absent father — all while carrying the wound of a mother who chose to leave.

The discrimination against the Traveller community is woven throughout the story, and Kabak handles it with real nuance. Shibby and Dorah’s lifelong friendship with Kitty, a Traveller girl, shows the other side. Kitty has all loyalty, love, and warmth that Shibby’s own family rarely offered. In a desperate bid for connection, Shibby eventually marries a Traveller man. It’s a disaster. But it’s also the thing that finally cracks Benny open. He comes to her rescue, and in doing so, gives Shibby something she’d been waiting her whole life for.

The twins themselves are a study in contrasts. Dorah shrugs off every upheaval; Shibby takes everything to heart. Their saving grace is Alice Duffy, the family housekeeper, who becomes the mother figure they never had. 

The writing is sharp, the Irish setting is atmospheric, and the characters feel so real they could walk right off the page.

This one is absurd and heartbreaking in equal measure. Highly recommend for fans of literary fiction, women’s fiction, and family dramas with real emotional weight. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Carrie Kabak for the #gifted ebook. Out now.

Shibby and Dorah cope with the same childhood trauma in completely opposite ways. Are you more of a Shibby — someone who feels everything deeply — or a Dorah — someone who rolls with the punches?

#shibbymageebook #carriekabak #irishfiction #womensfiction #familydrama

About the Author

Carrie Kabak’s novel Cover the Butter was an Independent Booksellers’ Pick, won an AudioFile Magazine Award, and was nominated for a Quill Award. Her essays appear in For Keeps and He Said What? (Seal Press), Exit Laughing (North Atlantic Books), Faith (Simon & Schuster), and Dumped (She Writes). Carrie’s latest novel, Shibby Magee, was recently released.

Carrie is a regular online visitor to Victoria Zackheim’s UCLA Personal Essay course (Extension Writers’ Program), where she discusses the art of essay writing.

Alongside her writing, Carrie works as a book cover artist for major publishers, following many years as a production designer at Hallmark Cards. Both an Irish and British citizen, she now lives in Missouri with her chef husband. They share five sons, five grandchildren, two labradors, two cockatiels, and four tanks of freshwater fish.