Himself #himself #jesskidd #atriabooks #debutnovel #whimsical @absltmom

There are sometimes when I would love to live in the mind of an author. This would be one of them.

  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.

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.

Jess Kidd in her debut novel, has created a world where humor resides among evil, where the good occupy the same world as the not so good, where fantasy and reality blend and merge into realm of sadness and happiness, where a son searches for a long lost mother and eventually finds love and understanding. Truly, this was for me a remarkable tale and again found myself loving the unique and mesmerizing storytelling of Ms Kidd.

  Wouldn’t you love to meet her and spend some time with this wonderfully creative and addictive story teller? I know I would…..