This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
Carrie Kabak’s Shibby Magee unfolds in two timelines, following the identical twins Isabelle “Shibby” and Isadorah “Dorah” Magee, who are like chalk and cheese. The story starts in the 1970s when the kids are abandoned by their Traveler mother, Vera Coffey. They are raised by their bigoted grandma, Nanna Magee, at the fading Gilligan’s Bakery together with Benny, their cloistered father, and Alice, the family housekeeper. At forty-five, Shibby is working as a chef in Galway when she impulsively marries Povey O’Brien and then finds out that he is a bigamist and an abuser. When she flees back to Burren Droma, she makes a devastating discovery about her father. Will she be able to choose a man who doesn’t abuse her or be forced into the same cycle of toxicity and ruin?
Carrie Kabak’s novel presents a tangled plot and complex characters. Shibby’s impulsiveness is raw, skillfully factored into the bad decisions she makes; she is a heroine who is broken in many ways, and her romantic gullibility matches her mother’s self-destructive patterns. Dorah is the pragmatic, sharp ballast, the opposite of Shibby. Ireland is finely drawn with details of the yeasty heat of Gilligan’s Bakery, the marginal Traveler camps, and the wind-swept, craggy cliffs of Burren Droma. Shibby Magee offers a family portrait tainted with secrets and decades of sacrifice and shame, clerical abuse, and blackmail. Writing about inherited trauma, this author's exploration of identity and the settled-Traveler divide illuminates the story. The first-person narrative voice gives weight to the characters, while the dialogue crackles with authentic Irish slang that reflects culture and place. The prose is filled with sensory details, from the smell of fish and seaweed to the buttery smell of caraway seed cake. This is a delightful read.
