The Pig Comes to Dinner

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Overview

Enjoy a “second helping” from the obstreperous creature that romped so riotously through The Pig Did It with this sequel The Pig Came to Dinner.

All of the charming characters of the previous story are also present again: Kitty McCloud and her new husband/former blood enemy Kieran Sweeney have bought an ancient Irish castle with the profits from Kitty’s popular revisions of classic novels like Jane Eyre. Kitty’s American cousin, Aaron McCloud, has arrived to visit with his new ...

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Overview

Enjoy a “second helping” from the obstreperous creature that romped so riotously through The Pig Did It with this sequel The Pig Came to Dinner.

All of the charming characters of the previous story are also present again: Kitty McCloud and her new husband/former blood enemy Kieran Sweeney have bought an ancient Irish castle with the profits from Kitty’s popular revisions of classic novels like Jane Eyre. Kitty’s American cousin, Aaron McCloud, has arrived to visit with his new wife, the former swineherd Lolly McKeever. With them is a troublesome and unwelcome pig, a wedding gift they are redelivering to Kitty and Kieran.

But over the resulting lighthearted discord hangs a weightier problem: Kitty’s new home is inhabited by a pair of ghosts from out of the castle’s troubled past. How this haunting couple is dealt with serves only to embellish the allure and humor of Mr. Caldwell’s uniquely theatrical storytelling.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

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. (May)

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Library Journal

This second in a projected trilogy begun with The Pig Did It reintroduces readers to the wildly successful and volatile author of "corrected" classic novels, Kitty McCloud; her hard-working husband, Kieran Sweeney; Kitty's swine-herding nephew, Aaron McCloud; and the nameless pig with a twitching pink nose for trouble. Rolling in royalties, Kitty and Kieran purchase an ancient Irish castle in County Kerry only to discover that their new demesne is haunted by the ghosts of young lovers Taddy and Brid, wrongfully accused of treason and executed 200 years before. Kitty and Kieran's desire to release the tragic pair from limbo is complicated by the appearance of Lord Shaftoe, the alleged rightful owner of the castle. Meanwhile, the mischievous pig sets in motion a chain of events that ultimately reveals the surprising resolution to everyone's problems. This charming, at times hilarious tale serves as a satisfying story as well as a quiet commentary on the sympathetic relationship between imagination and compassion.
—J. Greg Matthews

Kirkus Reviews
The second volume in Caldwell's projected trilogy (The Pig Did It, 2008)-a hybrid of farce and Irish ghost story. Hack novelist Kitty McCloud (her latest "correction" of a classic is called The Bloody Mill on the Bloody Floss) and new husband Kieran Sweeney have bought a drafty, dilapidated castle in County Kerry. There they cohabit with cows, the mischievous pig of the title and a peculiar couple of handsome teens in homespun whom they take to be squatters. It soon becomes apparent that the squatters are the raw-necked, restless ghosts of Brid and Taddy, attractive youths who centuries earlier were hanged by the English Lord Shaftoe when he took possession of Castle Kissane. Shaftoe caught wind of a plot to blow up his castle with a cache of gunpowder hidden on the premises and made an example of Brid and Taddy. The plot thickens when a descendant of Shaftoe surfaces and with the courts' backing stakes a claim as rightful owner of Castle Kissane, at which point the pig unearths a strongbox that divulges the whereabouts of the gunpowder. Plot contrivances abound, among them that Kitty half-falls for the ghost of Taddy; Kieran is smitten by Brid; and both spouses conceive a deep jealousy. Caldwell's style is histrionic and hammy; he counts on winning the reader's indulgence by way of snappy dialogue and Irish craic. Playful, at times even charming, but not light-footed enough to make up for its heavy-handedness.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Irish to the core, [Caldwell’s trilogy] speaks to all of humanity . . . with a heart as wide as an Irish smile and a drollness that would be welcome in many a pub.”
—Richmond Times-Dispatch
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781883285395
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 4/13/2010
  • Pages: 255
  • Sales rank: 369,821
  • Product dimensions: 5.10 (w) x 7.70 (h) x 0.76 (d)

Meet the Author

JOSEPH CALDWELL is a playwright and novelist who has been awarded the Rome Prize for Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is the author of five novels in addition to the Pig Trilogy. He began writing the trilogy when he was a volunteer in a hospital during the AIDS epidemic. Realizing his work could get no darker, he had to lighten up. Caldwell lives in New York City.

CHRIS PATTON began his career in stage performance but later found his true calling in voice over. In addition to his work narrating audiobooks, Chris has also voiced over 160 animated titles, and numerous national and regional commercials. He has appeared at over seventy-five pop culture conventions internationally to discuss his craft and interact with fans of his expansive fan base.

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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Posted June 11, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
    The Pig Did It

    Excellent Follow-up

    Written with intelligence and wit, this is an excellent continuation of Caldwell's The Pig Did It. I highly recommend this book and its predecessor.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 26, 2010

    This pig book is less stinky

    I originally bought book 1 and 2 of this pig trilogy, book 1 had received great reviews and I figured I would want to read all three. However after reading the first book, the Pig Did It, I was greatly disappointed as I didn't enjoy that book at all. Then I didn't want to read this book, I actually dreaded it. But since I had it, I decided I might as well. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. This plot seemed much more plausible than the first plot. I also found the main characters in book 2 to be far less annoying that the characters in book 1, even Kitty who was a main character in both is more enjoyable to read about in this book. It appears that the writers writing style has evolved from book 1 to book 2 and I appreciated that.

    As for the book itself, I did enjoy the plot, however the pace of the book is slow, no real action, no real drama, but interesting. The pigs involvement in this book is less comical than the first book but I still enjoyed hearing of his mischief, although I wasn't sure why the author felt the need to label her a lesbian?

    In closing I would say I didn't love the book, but I liked it and I certainly liked it far more than The Pig Did It.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
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