How would you characterize the tone of the story? How does the language contribute to the tone? What else contributes to it? Is Mahony’s outsider identity important to the novel? How does his otherness mirror Orla’s experience? Lovable car thief and Dublin charmer Mahony had always been told he was left on the steps of an orphanage as a baby. But a deathbed confession reveals that there might be more to the story. Teaming up with Mrs. Cauley, an eccentric former theater actress who likes nothing more than to stir up trouble among Mulderrig's residents, Mahony is determined to uncover the truth about his mother. The two concoct a plan to interrogate those who might know something, and hopefully flush out the truth, with the help of some of the town's colorful residents. But this scandal ran far and wide through Mulderrig, and the two might be putting themselves and those they care about in danger as they get closer and closer to the truth.

Himself by Jess Kidd review – a dark and rollicking debut

Tadhg withholds a fart, just while he’s thinking. “Shauna Burke rents out rooms to paying guests at Rathmore House up in the forest. That’s about it.” Take me away to the small Irish village of Mulderrig where much is afoot, some of it dark but some of it fun and whimsical. This village, where a murder took place, where a son searches for his mother, where people are for you or agin you will take you on a sojourn to a place where magic and realism meld together . It is a village where ghosts roam, where Irish legends have full sway, where life itself contains many secrets and all who try to delve into those very secrets are not welcome. Jess Kidd has a PhD in Creative Writing from St. Mary's University. She grew up as a part of a large family from Mayo and now lives in London with her daughter. Himself is her first novel. She is currently at work on a second novel and a collection of short stories. With “Himself,” Jess Kidd bewitches the reader. I, for one, am glad I fell under his spell. I hope you will consider doing the same. Now the dead are confined to a brief scud across the room at lights-out, or a wobble now and then in his peripheral vision.This is a beguiling, dark atmospheric and wondrous literary read interwoven with the supernatural and the fantastical. It is a stunning debut from Jess Kidd that draws the reader into what is a spellbinding read. A dark fairytale brimming with folklore, humour and flawless comic touches. For me, it called to mind the talented Kevin Barry and other Irish writers, past and present. The past gives us Orla's story and the present in the 1970s focuses on Mahony, her son. It begins with the murder of teenage single mum, Orla, and when the murderer looks to kill her baby, plants and nature have grown to magically protect the child. NetGalley and Atria Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available! Prologue May 1950: His first blow: the girl made no noise, her dark eyes widened. She reeled a little as she bent and put the baby down. The man stood waiting.

Himself by Jess Kidd review – humour and horror collide

Tadhg is propping up the saloon door of Kerrigan’s Bar having changed a difficult barrel and threatened a cellar rat with his deadly tongue. He is setting his red face up to catch a drop of sun while scratching his arse with serious intent. He has been thinking of the Widow Farelly, of her new-built bungalow, the prodigious whiteness of her net curtains and the pigeon plumpness of her chest. Read J. M. Synge’s classic work The Playboy of the Western World and study up on its scandalous history.Inside the envelope was a photograph of a girl with a half smile holding a blurred bundle, high and awkwardly, like found treasure. Mahony turned it over and the good solid schoolteacherly hand dealt him a left hook. Did you come away from the novel feeling positive, negative, or neutral about religion? Why? Do certain aspects strike you as hypocritical? If so, which aspects? His arrival causes cheeks to flush and arms to fold in disapproval. No one in the village - living or dead - will tell what happened to the teenage mother who abandoned him as a baby, despite Mahony's certainty that more than one of them has answers.

Summary and reviews of Himself by Jess Kidd - BookBrowse Summary and reviews of Himself by Jess Kidd - BookBrowse

Mahony rents a room in the same house as the retired actress Mrs. Merle Cauley. Mahony and Cauley conclude that his mother must have been murdered and begin to investigate, starting with the interviewing everyone who shows up for auditions for the annual amateur play. The two have a similar way of cutting through bullshit and pretension and make an entertaining team. Mahony took out his cigarette and squinted at the priest. “Sit yourself down, have a drink with me, Father.”There is one scene of animal cruelty that left me wanting the fate for the man that he bestowed on the dog. Into this village comes Mahony, the boy we eventually learn whose teenage mother, Orla Sweeney, "mysteriously" disappeared. He is looking for her armed with an old photograph, searching for the girl who left him, finding himself not welcome in this town where he was born. He meets and resides with his landlady, Mrs Cauley, a wonderful character, who recruits Mahony to star in in her Christmas play. She teams up with Mahony to try an unravel the mystery of his missing mom and while investigating we meet the good and the bad in the village of Muldering. Interspersed in the story are also the dead of the village who add a kind of mystical charm to the story making you want to find this place and perhaps even dwell there even if only in your mind.