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The Irish Times
The Guardian
GoodReads
Book Companion
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 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? 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.
Characters: 64. Links: Amazon rating: 4 1/2 stars. Genre:
Fiction.
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