” A] fast-paced yarn that nimbly soars above the Irish crime fiction genre Kidd clearly knows very well.” –New York Times Book Review ” A] supernaturally skillful debut.” –Vanity Fair “A delicious, gratifying and ageless story.” –New York Journal of Books Abandoned on the steps of an orphanage as an infant, Dublin charmer Mahony assumed all his life that his mother had simply given him up. But … life that his mother had simply given him up. But when he receives a tip one night at the bar suggesting that foul play may have led to the disappearance of his mother, he decides to return to the rural Irish village where he was born to learn what really happened twenty-six years earlier.
From the moment he sets foot in Mulderrig, Mahony’s presence turns the village upside down. His uncannily familiar face and outsider’s ways cause a stir among the locals, who receive him with a mixture of curiosity (the men), excitement (the women), and suspicion (the pious). It seems that his mother, Orla Sweeney, had left quite an impression on this little town–dearly beloved to some, a scourge and a menace to others. But who would have had reason to get rid of her for good?
Determined to find answers, Mahony solicits the help of brash pot-stirrer and retired actress Mrs. Cauley, and the two concoct an ingenious plan to get the town talking, aided and abetted by a cast of eccentric characters, some from beyond the grave. What begins as a personal mission gradually becomes a quiet revolution: a young man and his town uniting against corruption of power, against those who seek to freeze their small worlds in time, to quash the sinister tides of progress and modernity come hell or high water. But what those people seem to forget is that Mahony has the dead on his side….
Centering on a small town rife with secrets and propelled by a twisting-and-turning plot, Himself is a gem of a book, a darkly comic mystery, and a beautiful tribute to the magic of language, legacy, and storytelling.more
Second book Ive read or listened to from this author and becoming a must read!
This was a wonderful book. It was funny with wonderful characters and a mystery to the very end. I loved it.
Jess Kidd had me from the beginning and didn’t let me go until the last page. Great read!
Mesmerizing story and language from page one! Don’t miss this one!
A fantastic atmospheric mystery with supernatural elements set in a small village in Ireland, complete with a colorful cast of characters. Vivid, clever and often laugh out loud funny.
“Himself” is a really great mystery with some folklore/supernatural events occurring in a small Irish Village flashing back between the 1950s and 1976. A young man comes “home”, 24 years after to being left at an Orphanage in Dublin, to discover for Himself what really happened to his mother. All the humor, pettiness, gossip, love, and beauty of small village/parish life makes this book well worth the read. I highly recommend the book. Makes me long for another visit to Ireland. The Audible version had a great Irish accent throughout that delighted the ears.
Delightful portrayal of a small Irish community and prodigal son’s return. It’s funny, heartwarming, and adds a dollop of the supernatural for good measure. Great summer read.
I enjoyed this book. The story is unusual and intriguing, the characters are well defined and the prose is beautiful. It stayed with me after I finished reading it.
Himself is a classic, feeding the reader through a multisensory smorgasbord of Irish euphemisms.
Kidd cleverly blends the shadowy world of the esoteric into a captivating Irish tale set in the real world. Ghostly figures are so cleverly woven in and out of this story, with their naked buttocks and aged shoes, that at times it’s easy to mistake them for the living.
Brilliant!
Great book. Highly original with fantastic characters. It’s also chock-full of rich, colorful Irish turns of phrase. One note–when I first started the book, I was a little put off by the fact that it included ghosts. But they actually work well in the story. Loved this highly original story.
Beautifully written who done it- I will keep an eye out for future books of hers- excellent!
This is a very quirky book, but one I enjoyed very much. I would’ve given it 5 stars had things been wrapped up just a little bit more. I found the characters quite amusing and very entertaining. It’s definitely an escape from reality!
The writing in this book is outstanding and the story is memorable.
The use of language in this book took my breath away
So beautifully written this book has a rhythm and vision all of its own. Describing and creating an extraordinary, ordinary small town village where the beautiful and the horrible not only live along side one another, but sometimes overlap. With wonderful characters that change before your eyes as new pieces of information seep through from both the past and the present. A haunting lyrical feast.
Himself was very entertaining. The characters both alive and dead were unusual and the story had a fairy tale feel
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Very entertaining characters and a wonderful story with many surprises
I loved this book. It was in turns funny, sad, and mysterious and very, very Irish. Very original.
Quick read. Loved the irish phrases Interesting story
Very slow going. Characters were not very likable. I gave up, I hardly ever do that.