Himself
A Novel
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4.1 • 81 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A charming ne’er-do-well returns to his haunted Irish hometown to uncover the truth about his mother in this “supernaturally skilled debut” (Vanity Fair) and turns the town—and his life—upside down.
Having been abandoned at an orphanage as a baby, Mahony assumed all his life that his mother wanted nothing to do with him. That is, until one night in 1976 while drinking a pint at a Dublin pub, he receives an anonymous note implying that she may have been forced to give him up. Determined to find out what really happened, Mahony embarks on a pilgrimage back to his hometown, the rural village of Mulderrig. Neither he nor Mulderrig can possibly prepare for what’s in store…
From the moment he arrives, Mahony’s presence completely changes the village. Women fall all over themselves. The real and the fantastic are blurred. Chatty ghosts rise from their graves with secrets to tell, and local preacher Father Quinn will do anything to get rid of the slippery young man who is threatening the moral purity of his parish.
A spectacular new addition to the grand Irish storytelling tradition, Himself “is a darkly comic tale of murder, intrigue, haunting and illegitimacy…wickedly funny” (Daily Express).
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
On a spring afternoon in a remote Irish village, a woman is killed and her infant mysteriously saved. Twenty-six years later and a decade out of his Dublin orphanage, that child returns to the village; he's now a petty (but very pretty) criminal hell-bent on piecing together the past. Himself doesn’t make its antihero’s journey easy—he’s sidetracked by wonderfully drawn minor characters and heartbreaking ghosts—but it’s spellbinding throughout. Debut novelist Jess Kidd reads like the literary offspring of Colm Tóibín and Kate Atkinson, weaving the former’s Irish lyricism with the latter’s dark humour, magical realism, and rollicking good plotting.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her exceptional debut novel, Kidd explores the dark corners of the human mind in small-town 1970s Ireland, creating a haunting story that moves between the supernatural and the mundane. A murder mystery on the surface, the story digs past the traditional whodunit structure to paint a rich portrait of village life. Mahony, a charming young man who can communicate with the dead, returns to Mulderrig, Ireland, his birthplace, in search of the truth about his mother's mysterious disappearance. As he dredges up the town's best-kept secrets, the line between past and present blurs, ghosts of the departed shadowing the footsteps of those still living. Mahony's quest is, at its core, a journey of self-discovery, yet his presence, much like his mother's, creates a ripple that churns into a tempest, ultimately threatening the stability of the town as a whole. The lavishly populated cast of characters boasts unique quirks, hidden motivations, and a dangerous instinct for self-preservation. In Mulderrig, Mahony learns, all is not as it seems; the departed prove to be the least of his worries. While the plot hurtles along at a rapid pace, leading inexorably to the heart-pounding final conflict, Kidd injects ample doses of macabre humor and lyrical description in this memorable story from a strange, bold new voice.
Customer Reviews
HIMSELF by Jess Kidd: A Three-Word Review
I found this book to be GRIPPING, EERIE, and ARTISTIC.
4.5 STARS
Magical
A modern Irish tale - so very good!
Highly recommend
Enjoyed every bit of this book. Authors poetic writing style kept me transfixed. Characters range from lovable to despicable.