The Pig Comes to Dinner

February 16, 2009
In Caldwell’s fun second installment to his Pig Trilogy (after The Pig Did It
), Irish writer Kitty McCloud and husband Kieran Sweeney battle to stave off specters threatening to destroy their newfound nuptial bliss. The beautiful ghosts of Taddy and Brid haunt Castle Kissane, the couple’s new abode, as well as their dreams and desires. Then the very real Lord Shaftoe appears after his family’s two-century-long absence to reclaim the keep. Onto the scene trots the “lesbian” pig, whose ramblings and rootings could destroy the lovely estate—or help save it. Throughout, the whimsical tale is held aloft by a fanciful if sometimes long-winded lyricism that well conveys the spirit of its Irish setting and characters. In this story, humor and sadness, the past and the present, all live side-by-side, and it is all Kitty can do to tell them apart, much less keep the ghosts at bay.