Shibby Magee

De: Carrie Kabak

Narrado por: Ailish Jeffers

SHIIBY MAGEE: An Irish Tragicomedy.

A vanished mother • A fractured family • A lifetime of choosing the wrong men.

When their bold, brassy mother vanishes into Ireland’s Traveller community, Shibby Magee and her twin sister Dorah are left behind in a family already cracking at the seams. Under the iron rule of their rigidly bigoted grandmother, the girls grow up on opposite tracks: Dorah, defiant and arrogant; Shibby, bruised and unmoored. As an adult, desperate for love, Shibby is drawn to men who abuse or discard her, caught in patterns she can’t yet see. She finds a measure of stability in the chaos of a restaurant kitchen—but a question persists: is her future in the settled world, or on the open road to God only knows where?

With the steadfast support of Alice Duffy, a housekeeper turned surrogate mother; Moochie de Barra, a stand-in for an emotionally absent father; and Kitty Dooley, who embodies the fierce pride and harsh realities of Traveller life—Shibby begins to confront hard truths about cultural identity, family, and what it will take to find where she truly belongs. Rich with texture and lyrical rhythm, this novel traces how early abandonment echoes into midlife, revealing what endures, what shifts, and how patterns repeat until the cycle finally breaks.

In the tradition of Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan, Trespasses by Louise Kennedy, and Donal Ryan’s The Queen of Dirt Island, Shibby Magee is a warm yet incisive portrait of a woman shaped by loss, grief, and social prejudice as she struggles toward dignity, love, and self-possession.

©2026 Carrie Kabak (P)2026 Carrie Kabak

Reseñas de la Crítica

"With its brilliant sense of time, place, and setting, and its depiction of prejudiced small-town attitudes towards the Traveller community and homosexuality, this is a novel examining the real meaning of family and love. Lyrical, well observed, and darkly funny, it explores the issues of cultural identity, abandonment, and self acceptance." —Helen Towers, Borderlines Book Festival programmer

Irish Family Drama with Humor and Heart

I recently was offered 𝑺𝑯𝑰𝑩𝑩𝒀 𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑬𝑬 𝒃𝒚 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆 𝑲𝒂𝒃𝒂𝒌 & 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑨𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑱𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒔 by the author and I could not resist the pull of this one.

Family dramas have been a favorite genre of mine for years, and this Irish setting gave a deep look at a complex family when at 11, Shibby's Traveler mother leaves her, her twin Dorah, and their father Benny.

The result of this leaving casts long shadows over Shibby in ways very different from her sister. Pining to fill the hole left, Shibby goes full on into destructive relationships leaving her longing more each time, while Dorah takes a bold, defiant stance, refusing to care. With the help of their housekeeper Alice, Shibby begins to really take stock of her choices and direction to see if she can find a way forward.

I found myself quite taken with this story as Shibby mines her loss. The Irish Travelers are not as familiar to me, so it was great to learn about them more with the girl's friend Kitty, while seeing the harsh prejudice towards them by Shibby's grandmother. Stories really do show how thoughts become actions and then ripple across time.

The audio version was fantastic! Jeffers embodied not just the accents, but the emotional pining and struggle for identity that Shibby had. This was a really solid story, and the audio was a beautiful choice of format.

Shibby Magee Is Delightful

I loved Shibby Magee. From the very first pages, Carrie Kabak pulls you into a world that feels so vivid you can almost smell the bread baking and hear the rain lashing against the windows. She has a true gift for descriptive prose—every scene is sensory, textured and alive. Just as impressive is the way she captures the prosody of Irish speech; the dialogue sings with rhythm, wit, and authenticity without ever feeling forced. Most of all, I stayed fully invested in Shibby’s journey from beginning to end—rooting for her, worrying for her, and wanting to know what would happen next. It’s funny, tender and completely immersive. Truly delightful!

Highly recommend

I could not stop listening to this story!! From the very beginning, I was completely engrossed in Shibby's story and all of the complicated relationships, heartbreak, family dynamics, and questions of identity woven throughout it. What really stood out to me was how much I learned about the Irish Traveller community. I knew very little about Traveller culture and their way of life before reading this, and I loved how the book gave me a window into a world I had never really explored before.
The setting throughout western Ireland was also absolutely captivating I could practically feel the ruggedness of the roads, villages, and coastlines through the pages.
Shibby's journey was heartbreaking at times, especially watching how the abandonment and instability she experienced growing up followed her into adulthood and influenced the relationships she chose. But I loved watching her slowly begin to understand herself, her past, and where she truly belongs.
There was something so engrossing about this story. It's messy, emotional, complicated, and full of characters who leave an impression on you. And honestly, I love when a book can teach me something while completely pulling me into the story.
I would absolutely recommend!
The voice actor did a phenomenal job and really brought the characters to life!

A superb character driven Irish tragicomedy about abandonment and how it shapes an entire life

Shibby Magee is a life-spanning story about how one act of abandonment shapes a woman’s identity, and her long, uneven journey toward understanding herself. It is a character-driven Irish tragicomedy that follows Isabelle “Shibby” Magee across two stages of her life: childhood and middle age, after her mother abruptly abandons her family to join the Traveller community. This act of abandonment echoes through every stage of Shibby’s life. As a child growing up in Ireland, Shibby is raised in a lively but chaotic household. She struggles to understand why she was left behind, and the loss creates a deep sense of insecurity, confusion, and longing that has long-lasting effects that linger into adulthood. Despite the pain, these early years are infused with a dark humour; capturing family life, school, and Irish social dynamics. The story shifts to Shibby's life in middle age, where she navigates relationships, work, and identity. Her unresolved childhood trauma shows up in her romantic choices and self-worth. She often gravitates toward unhealthy or unfulfilling relationships, and her life becomes a pattern of searching: for love; for stability, and for a sense of belonging. Shibby Magee is a triumph in character driven storytelling, lingering emotionally long after listening. Despite its heavy themes, it is sharp witty and a wholy immersive book.
I read and listened as an immersive read which was amazing. I loved the ebook, but the audiobook is even better. The Irish accent, humour and edge is so much sharper making it all more vivid and believable. Such a great audiobook. If there were more than 5 stars, I would give them all.

Will make you laugh and cry

This book will make you laugh out loud and then quickly break your heart. And somehow Carrie Kabak pulls it off on every single page.

When Shibby and her twin sister Dorah are eleven, their mother vanishes — dropping the bombshell on her way out that she’s an Irish Traveller returning to her community. What follows is a lifetime of fallout. Nanna Magee never forgives her son Benny for marrying a Traveller woman, and she makes sure everyone feels her contempt for it. Shibby spends decades chasing love and acceptance from people who seem constitutionally unable to give it — her cold, prejudiced grandmother, her emotionally absent father — all while carrying the wound of a mother who chose to leave.
The discrimination against the Traveller community is woven throughout the story, and Kabak handles it with real nuance. Shibby and Dorah’s lifelong friendship with Kitty, a Traveller girl, shows the other side. Kitty has all loyalty, love, and warmth that Shibby’s own family rarely offered. In a desperate bid for connection, Shibby eventually marries a Traveller man. It’s a disaster. But it’s also the thing that finally cracks Benny open. He comes to her rescue, and in doing so, gives Shibby something she’d been waiting her whole life for.

The twins themselves are a study in contrasts. Dorah shrugs off every upheaval; Shibby takes everything to heart. Their saving grace is Alice Duffy, the family housekeeper, who becomes the mother figure they never had. 

The writing is sharp, the Irish setting is atmospheric, and the characters feel so real they could walk right off the page. Narrator Ailish Jeffers gives a fantastic performance. She deftly balances the heavy emotions with the absurd humor of everyday life.

This one is funny and heartbreaking in equal measure. Highly recommend for fans of literary fiction, women’s fiction, and family dramas with emotional weight.