Shibby Magee

Abandoned by her mother as a child, Shibby Magee has spent her entire life desperately searching for love and belonging. When an abusive relationship forces her to confront the ghosts of her past, a family secret hidden for decades will forever change everything she thought she knew about her family and herself.

At forty-five years old, Shibby Magee discovers she is pregnant after a relationship with Rogan, the chef at the restaurant where she works. Accustomed to facing life’s hardships alone, she decides not to tell him. Yet the news forces her to confront a wound she has never managed to heal: her mother’s abandonment and the persistent feeling that she has never truly belonged anywhere.

The story moves between the present and Shibby’s memories of being eleven years old. She and her twin sister grew up above the family bakery in a small Irish town. Their childhood changes forever when their mother, Vera, abandons the family to run away with another man. The girls are left in the care of Benny, their hardworking but emotionally distant father; a strict and deeply religious grandmother; and Alice, the family housekeeper, who gradually becomes the true maternal figure in their lives.

Vera’s departure leaves an indelible mark on Shibby. As the years pass, she continues wondering why her mother abandoned them and what part of herself she inherited from that woman. Matters worsen when financial difficulties force the family to sell the bakery, bringing an end to the only home the twins have ever known. The family relocates to a small island off the Irish coast, and shortly afterward the girls are sent to a Catholic boarding school in England. Although both sisters eventually build adult lives far away, Shibby never escapes the sense of abandonment that has haunted her since childhood.

Decades later, she returns to Ireland to help Benny, Alice, and other relatives open a small restaurant. On the surface, she has built an independent life, but she remains desperately searching for the love and emotional stability she never found at home. This longing leads her to fall in love with Povey O’Brien, a charismatic man from the same Irish Traveller community her mother came from. Convinced she has finally found a chance to build a family of her own, she agrees to marry him after a brief courtship.

The decision proves disastrous. After the wedding, Povey reveals himself to be manipulative, controlling, and violent. Promises of happiness give way to lies, humiliation, and psychological abuse. Isolated and trapped in a destructive relationship, Shibby realizes that she is repeating patterns that seem to have haunted her family for generations. She eventually escapes, but the experience forces her to question why she has spent her entire life searching for love in all the wrong places.

Convinced she cannot move forward without answers, she begins searching for Vera, whom she has not seen since childhood. She finds her living in poverty, severely affected by dementia and clinging to fragmented memories of the past. During one of her final moments of lucidity, Vera reveals a truth that completely transforms the family story: Benny was never the twins’ biological father. When she met him, she was already pregnant by another man. Furthermore, members of her family had forced Benny into marriage through threats and violence. For decades, he carried that secret without ever telling anyone.

The revelation changes the way Shibby sees her father. She had always regarded him as a man incapable of expressing affection, but now discovers that he too was a victim of Vera’s choices and that, despite everything, he chose to raise the twins as if they were his own daughters. When Povey reappears and attempts to force her back into his life, Benny confronts him to protect her. For the first time, Shibby understands the depth of his love and the silent sacrifice that has shaped his entire life.

As she struggles to rebuild herself, she must also face the reality of her pregnancy. Afraid of being abandoned again, she keeps the news secret. However, Rogan seeks her out, confesses that he loves her, and asks her to build a future with him. His gesture allows her to imagine a life different from the ones lived by previous generations of her family.

In the end, Shibby realizes that what she has been searching for all her life was never hidden in the secrets of her past or in the idealized image of the mother who abandoned her. True family is made up of the people who choose to stay. By accepting the love of Benny, Alice, and Rogan, she breaks the cycle of abandonment that defined her childhood and finally finds a place where she belongs.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Carrie Kabak is a British writer, essayist, and graphic designer whose work focuses on family relationships and personal conflicts. She has received the AudioFile Earphones Award and was nominated for the Quill Awards.

Shibby Magee is a sweeping family saga set in rural Ireland. Warm, moving, and often infused with irony, it explores themes of identity, abandonment, trauma, and prejudice.

The richness of its characters, the weight of its family secrets, and its distinctly Irish atmosphere make it a deeply human story. It offers strong audiovisual potential, particularly as a television series, thanks to its ensemble cast, emotional and intergenerational conflicts, universal themes, and the visual appeal of its settings. The novel received an Honorable Mention at the Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards.

CRITICAL ACCLAIM

“Lyrical, insightful, and wickedly funny, it tackles issues of cultural identity, abandonment, and self-acceptance. It will make you laugh and cry and undoubtedly touch your heart.” — Helen Towers, programmer of the Borderlines Carlisle Book Festival

“Whether in the bustling kitchen of a busy restaurant or travelling the roads as part of Ireland’s Traveller community, Shibby guides us through a fascinating and richly textured world I knew nothing about and loved discovering. Warm, wise, and laced with wit, Kabak’s novel is simply magnificent.” — Caroline Leavitt, bestselling author

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Limited Series, Feature Film, TV Movie.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: English.