Listen to a sample
Evenings and Weekends
- Author
- Oisín McKenna
- Narrator
- Isabel Adomakoh Young
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 9 May 2024
- Run Time
- 9 hours 26 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: identity / belonging, Narrative theme: sense of place, Narrative theme: love / relationships, Contemporary lifestyle fiction, Family life fiction / Stories about family, Narrative theme: coming of age
- Rating
- 3.8 (6 reviews)
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What to expect
'I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN' SHON FAYE
'A MASTERPIECE. THIS SEARING TALE OF LOVE, SEX AND CLASS WILL RESONATE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME' OWEN JONES
'I WAS DEEPLY MOVED BY ITS BEAUTY AND HUMANITY' COCO MELLORS
'Electric and intimate' Guardian
'Impossibly, ineffably beautiful’ Russell T Davies
'Intoxicating' Irish Times
London, June 2019. Maggie is 30, pregnant and broke. Faced with moving back to the home 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 harbouring 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 already has a boyfriend. 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 in a city on the brink of political upheaval, all their lives are set to change forever. It’s the hottest summer on record, and the weekend is about to begin.
What readers are saying…
'I’ve had a week long book hangover. Read it!'
'A book I will carry with me in my heart'
'The best book I've read in recent years'
'My life got just a bit richer from having read this book'
'I absolutely loved it, every word'
Critics Review
-
'A gorgeous, kaleidoscopic vision of London written in shimmering prose I felt compelled to underline. I was deeply moved by its beauty and humanity.’ Coco Mellors, author of Cleopatra and Frankenstein
'A masterpiece. This searing tale of love, sex and class will resonate for generations to come' Owen Jones
'Electric and intimate. Bottles the exhilaration of youthful desire and possibility, as well as the accompanying instability' Guardian
‘I’ve never seen London so vividly rendered: grubby, sexy, suffocating. I couldn’t put it down. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant’ Shon Faye
'Full of rich observations and emotional detail. A complex love letter to the city.' Vogue
‘A beautiful, wise book. Impossibly, ineffably beautiful.’ Russell T Davies
'Compelling, brilliant, hypnotic. An impressive debut, pulsating with energy, humour and erotic charge.' Irish Times
‘I loved it so much I didn't want it to end. It made me choke up not from tragedy but from the sheer humanity of it' Annie Lord
'The only beach (or back garden) read for those in the know' Sunday Times Magazine
'A book you itch to return to' Eva Wiseman, Guardian
'The book of the summer' Dazed
'McKenna’s evocative prose paints a love letter to London in all its grimy glory’ Service 95
'Tender and addictive. Perfect summer reading.' i Paper
'Heartfelt, vivid and sexy' London Standard
‘A love letter to cities and people and heartbreaks. It made me cry’ Eileen Myles
‘Astonishing. A magnificent read’ Russell Tovey
'The book insiders will be passing on to everyone this summer' Stylist
‘Sexy, clever and shockingly alive. I have never read a book that captures what London feels like so compellingly’ Tomasz Jedrowski
'The aching, swelling humanity of this book swallowed me whole' Saba Sams
'Zadie Smith-esque in its kaleidoscope of London. Compassionate, intelligent, hilarious' Niamh Campbell
'A novel brimming with life' Nicola Dinan
'Stunning. Guaranteed to be one of the books of the summer' Hero
'I was entirely consumed by it.’ Kate Young
User Reviews
Book 3.8
Narration 4.5
-
5.0 5.0
At first I felt like an observer of lives so very different from my own, then the shared humanity of hopes, desires, disappointment, lack of opportunity, love and mortality... drew me right in. Very moving.
jackdor 2026-07-05
Details
- Author
- Oisín McKenna
- Narrator
- Isabel Adomakoh Young
- Duration
- 9 hours 26 minutes
- Release Date
- 9 May 2024
- ISBN
- 9780008604202
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: identity / belonging, Narrative theme: sense of place, Narrative theme: love / relationships, Contemporary lifestyle fiction, Family life fiction / Stories about family, Narrative theme: coming of age
- Rating
- 3.8(6 reviews)
- Narration
- 4.5(6 reviews)
Synopsis
'I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN' SHON FAYE 'A MASTERPIECE. THIS SEARING TALE OF LOVE, SEX AND CLASS WILL RESONATE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME' OWEN JONES 'I WAS DEEPLY MOVED BY ITS BEAUTY AND HUMANITY' COCO MELLORS 'Electric and intimate' Guardian 'Impossibly, ineffably beautiful’ Russell T Davies 'Intoxicating' Irish Times London, June 2019. Maggie is 30, pregnant and broke. Faced with moving back to the home 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 harbouring 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 already has a boyfriend. 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 in a city on the brink of political upheaval, all their lives are set to change forever. It’s the hottest summer on record, and the weekend is about to begin. What readers are saying… 'I’ve had a week long book hangover. Read it!' 'A book I will carry with me in my heart' 'The best book I've read in recent years' 'My life got just a bit richer from having read this book' 'I absolutely loved it, every word'
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