Add this debut novel to your end-of-the-year reading list.
Kevin Gogarty, 50, has had it. His widowed mother, Amelia “Millie” Gogarty, has been picked up by the Dublin police. Shoplifting excites lonely Millie, as does the thought of the trip she’s supposed to take to America. After Kevin springs Millie, he tells her that she cannot leave Ireland due to police order.
Kevin returns home to find his daughter Nuala locked out of the house by her twin sister, Aideen. The 16-year-old sisters have had a screaming match, and Aideen has taken off with the key to their home. Nuala is popular and successful at school, but Aideen is struggling, and her grades are falling. Kevin decides to get Millie a companion to mind her and to send Aideen to boarding school. His wife, Grace, a busy executive, agrees.
Thus, Kevin, an out-of-work celebrity journalist, thinks he has the Gogarty house in order. Feeling abandoned and unloved, Millie and Aideen thwart Kevin’s plans in spectacular and hilarious ways. Good Eggs by Rebecca Hardiman is a debut novel and a great read.
Maureen Millea Smith is a librarian at the Edina Library and a Minnesota Book Award winning novelist.
