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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, sharp-edged and defiant; Shibby, bruised and unmoored.
As an adult, desperate for love, Shibby is drawn to men who wound and 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.

Set across the roads, towns, villages, and rugged coastlines of western Ireland—from Roscommon and Galway to a remote Atlantic island, the story traces how early abandonment echoes into midlife, revealing what endures, what shifts, and how the cycle repeats until it finally breaks.

• Carrie Kabak
• Published 2026 April 28th by Corbyn (first published 2026 March 5th)
• ISBN:
• ISBN13: 9798992235104
• Pages
• 4.03 77 ratings
• 59 reviews