Good Eggs
A Novel
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4.2 • 44 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Named a Best Feel-Good Book by The Washington Post
When a home aide arrives to assist a rambunctious family at a crossroads, simmering tensions boil over in this “witty, exuberant debut” (People) that is an “absolute delight from start to finish” (Sarah Haywood, New York Times bestselling author)—perfect for fans of Where’d You Go, Bernadette and Evvie Drake Starts Over.
When Kevin Gogarty’s eighty-three-year-old mother is caught shoplifting yet again, he has no choice but to hire a caretaker to keep an eye on her. Kevin, recently unemployed, is already at his wits’ end tending to a full house while his wife travels to exotic locales for work, leaving him solo with his sulky, misbehaved teenaged daughter. Into the Gogarty fray steps Sylvia, the upbeat home aide, who appears at first to be their saving grace—until she catapults the Gogarty clan into their greatest crisis yet.
“Bracing, hilarious, warm” (Judy Blundell, New York Times bestselling author), Good Eggs is an irresistibly charming study in self-determination; the notion that it’s never too late to start living; and the unique redemption that family, despite its maddening flaws, can offer.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hardiman's rollicking debut dives into the stories of a good-hearted but mischievous Dublin family. Millie Gogarty, an 83-year-old widow drawn to petty theft, "seems to have so little control over her slippery fingers," as well as over her tongue. Her long-suffering son, Kevin, 50, has been out of work for two decades. Kevin and his wife, Grace, have four children, including the rebellious 16-year-old Aideen, who deliberately smashes her sister's mirror ("no regrets there"), steals money from Grace, and is about to be shipped off against her will to a boarding school. When Millie is caught shoplifting again, Kevin arranges for a caretaker, an American named Sylvia Phenning, to keep an eye on her. Millie objects, but ends up getting along so well with Sylvia that Millie lends her money to pay for her nephew's surgery in the U.S. However, in this hilarious, zippy novel, nothing is as it seems. While some of Millie's escapades are so exaggerated that they move into slapstick territory, the prose is consistently sharp, as is the Gogartys' hilarious banter. Full of surprises, Hardiman's endearing novel stands out for its brilliant insight into the mixed blessings of family bonds.
Customer Reviews
Very fun
This book had to grow on me, but halfway through I decided I would definitely read another by this author. Though I worried that there were no likable characters, I found them at least sympathetic. I laughed, collected examples of original similes, and generally ignored my family for a couple of days.