Lyrical, warm, and  darkly funny

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​​​"It's like Shibby gets up on a nettle for a sting" said Dorah, "only to be surprised when it hurts."

Feck this, arrah that, Shibby Magee by the outstanding Carrie Kabak has it all with the relatably dark and manic Irish humour that we all love.

This tragicomic novel follows Shibby Magee after her mother Vera decides to leave and never return. Right before disappearing in a car with a man in a cowboy hat, she reveals to the family that she is actually a Traveller/Mincéir. Shibby and her twin sister Dorah are then left in the care of their emotionally distant father Benny, their caustic Nanna Magee, the lovable Moochie, and Alice, the motherly housekeeper.

The social prejudice of the community is revealed when there is a stronger reaction to Vera being a Mincéir, than to her abandoning her children. A social prejudice so strong that even Nanna Magee, whose own business Gilligan's bakery is struggling financially, buys good clothes they cannot afford to keep up appearances with the "parish ladies".

Their father Benny may as well be absent for all the attention he pays to them, even calling them the "bane of his existence", yet there is more going on with Benny than it seems at first.

My favorite character had to be Alice with her mismatched eyes, her many quirks, and obsession with banshees. She is absolutely hilarious, but like many of the characters, is a bit lost and described as "three parts a woman, one part a child." Her love for Shibby and Dorah, though suffocating at times, is truly genuine and touching.

Another crucial character is Kitty, a Traveller girl who joins Shibby's class and eventually becomes her lifelong best friend. Through Kitty, Shibby and Dorah are given an eye-opening insight into both the beauty and struggle of Traveller life.

I also adored the sisterly bond between Dorah and Shibby. They are like chalk and cheese but they remain essential to one another and stick together through thick and thin. Dorah is brutally direct, observant and realistic with many memorable lines such as "Jesus ... I'd eat the balls off a low-flying crow!" Shibby meanwhile is more quiet and introspective than her twin, always hoping and dreaming for better. Wishing for her Mammy to come home, to have a better relationship with her father, and later, for a true meaningful love with another person.

Split into two parts, this novel follows Shibby in her unsettled girlhood and later as a woman still trying to find where she belongs, all while nursing the occasional pang of Catholic guilt.

The prose is lyrical and warm, the dialogue fast and hilarious, and the imagery so vivid that you feel completely immersed in the world Kabak has expertly built.

[An] immersive and thought provoking book, Shibby Magee is an instant classic I think everyone will love!​ —Ciara