Evenings and Weekends

A Novel

By: Oisín McKenna

Narrated by: Isabel Adomakoh-Young

“This is such a love story to cities & people & heartbreaks, death & loss. It's not at all corny, it's smart. But I just finished it & it made me cry.” — Eileen Myles

"Signals the arrival of a novelist sure to resonate with young people who endeavor to make intimate connections." —The Washington Post

For fans of Sally Rooney and Torrey Peters, a stunning debut that follows a vibrant multi-generational cast of characters through a London heatwave as their simmering tensions and secrets come to a head over a feverish, life-changing weekend.

Summer in London stops for no one. Not the half-naked drunks and stoners, the bachelorette parties glugging from bejewelled bottles, the drag queens puffing on hurried cigarettes. It’s June 2019, and everyone has converged on the city’s parks, beer gardens, and street corners to revel in the collective joys of being alive.

Everyone but Maggie. She’s 30, pregnant, and broke. Faced with moving back to the town she fought to escape, she’s wondering if having a baby with boyfriend Ed will be the last spontaneous act of her life. Ed, meanwhile, is trying to run from his past with Maggie’s best friend Phil and harboring secret dreams of his own.

Phil hates his office job and is living for the weekend, while falling for his housemate, Keith. But there’s a problem: Keith has a boyfriend and there might not be room for three people in the relationship. Then there’s Rosaleen, Phil’s mother, who’s tired of feeling like a side character in her own life. She’s just been diagnosed with cancer and is travelling to London to tell Phil, if she can ever get hold of him.

As Saturday night approaches, all their lives are set to change forever. Temperatures are soaring and the weekend is about to begin…

Strikingly heartfelt, sexually charged, and disarmingly comic, Oisín McKenna’s debut is a mesmerizing dive into the soul of a city and a searing look at what it takes to build a life there.

Entertaining

Sex and the City is to Love Actually, what Girls is to Evenings and Weekends. This book is light and fun. It really is a sweet postcard/snapshot of London I suppose. The relationships were interesting/irreverent/fun and the tone of the book keeps you going to the end. Some of the reviews spoke of crying at the end. This book did not produce tears for me but it was sweet.

Powerfully done!

Loved this book so much! Both the writing and the narration are just perfection! Truly amazing, capturing what lives we all live and the impact of it on those around us.

Good!

It was a good book, engaging, but nothing overly special. Nothing that’s stuck with me and I wish it had.

The characters feel real and i felt like i got to know each of them very deeply.

It’s amazing writing and a great portrait of modern life, romance, interpersonal relationship, and sexuality. Some of the lines in the book profoundly put into words feelings many of us living in these times can relate to. This is a very observant book and is filled with perspectives that almost anyone can relate with in some way. All set in London that is character so well with great attention to how weather can bring about an atmosphere of inner turmoil and catharsis. Each perspective is well balanced, none of the stories and plot lines felt like they overstayed their welcome or overshadowed each other. The whale plot line is a great way to tie all of the perspectives together when they can all easily be lost in this large city of London. An incredibly engaging read.

This book was amazing! The character development and how you get closer and further from each throughout the book is incredible. The ~gay underbelly~ aspects of London inspired me to try new things in my own life. I LOVED this book 10/10