Evenings and Weekends

February 1, 2024

McKenna was named one of Ireland's best spoken-word artists by the Irish Times and makes his grant-funded debut, set during a heatwave in 2019 London, where a whale is stuck in the Thames River and four acquaintances cross paths at a life-changing party. Prepub Alert.

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May 13, 2024
A London heat wave and a whale stuck in the Thames form the backdrop of McKenna’s stimulating first novel. The narrative unfolds over a pivotal weekend in the lives of a group of friends, as the oppressive weather and crowds of tourists exacerbate their stress over their uncertain futures. Maggie, 30, worries her pregnancy will put a strain on her relationship with Ed and complicate their planned return to their Essex hometown. Ed, in turn, is excited to get away from his dead-end courier job and start a family with Maggie, though he’s also secretly having anonymous sex with men. Ed once carried on a relationship with Maggie’s friend, Phil, who’s falling in love with Keith, one of his roommates in an illegal warehouse loft. The characters’ precariousness is frequently and cleverly laid bare through the presence of the whale, whose ordeal is tied by many to climate change, and the narrative boldly explores themes of sexuality, shame, and miscommunication. McKenna’s ornate tapestry is one to savor. Agent: Liv Maidment, Madeleine Milburn Literary.

Starred review from June 15, 2024
As a soon-to-be mom braces for major life changes, her best friend wrestles with a secret that could have enormous implications for the pregnancy. This sparkling first novel focuses on the intertwined lives of three Londoners and their broader networks of friends and family, largely over the course of a single weekend in June 2019. Thirty-year-old art school graduate Maggie, her longtime boyfriend, Ed, and her best friend, Phil, have known each other since they were kids running around Basildon, a working-class town 40 minutes away by train; Ed's mother and Phil's parents are neighbors, and Phil's older brother is Ed's best friend. When Maggie tells Phil one Saturday that she's pregnant and that she and Ed are moving back to Basildon to prepare for the baby, he doesn't react the way she expects, but not for the reason she thinks. For Phil, the news rekindles a decade-old moral dilemma. Much as Phil has tried to put the past behind him, he knows something about Ed that Maggie doesn't--a secret so big it could threaten Ed and Maggie's relationship. With the impending addition of a baby to the mix, he feels more compelled than ever to reveal the truth. Concurrently, other problems arise in their peripheral social circle and beyond. Ed battles private demons. Phil's older brother and Ed's best friend, Callum, disappears. Phil and Callum's mother, Rosaleen, is trying to figure out the best way to disclose her cancer diagnosis to Phil. Phil is sorting out his feelings for his housemate and hookup partner, Keith, who's in an open relationship with another man, Louis. Things come to a head at a massive party held at Phil's warehouse commune home on Saturday night in honor of the summer solstice. In another pair of hands, the compressed timeline and the size of the cast could have made for a disjointed reading experience, but McKenna toggles among the different characters and storylines with aplomb. What emerges is an empathetic portrait of millennials trying to build lives for themselves amid social, political, and ecological change. A smart debut that feels rooted in the experiences of a generation and establishes McKenna as a gifted writer.

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Starred review from July 1, 2024
During one scorching weekend, longtime couple Maggie and Ed prepare to trade their moldy London flat for a place in Basildon, the hometown they once eagerly left. Maggie still hasn't told her best friend, Phil, also from Basildon, rightly suspecting he'll be shocked, and especially by the reason: she's pregnant. Phil thinks there's things about Ed that Maggie should know, and struggles to express his deep and true feelings to Keith, who's in an open relationship. Phil's mom, Rosaleen, wants to tell him about her recent diagnosis, but she also wants them to simply enjoy each other's company. Perhaps neither is possible. Meanwhile, a baffling disaster dominates the city: a whale is caught in the Thames. The web of characters expands at times to include more minor players, like the journalist covering the story, who so resembles the late Diana that she earns the nickname Princess of Whales. Taking place mostly during that weekend, McKenna's immersive and intoxicating debut is loud with all the things his characters can't quite say, their rambling, funny, tender, and difficult thoughts like thunder only readers can hear. The rain does come, along with relief in many forms, and readers will eagerly flip pages, chasing it.

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