"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 For fans of Sally Rooney and Torrey Peters, a stunning debut that follows three young adults through a London heatwave as their simmering tensions and secrets come to a head over a feverish, life-changing weekend. London, 2019. It's the hottest June on record, and a whale is stuck in the Thames River. In the streets of the city, three old acquaintances' lives are about to change forever... Maggie is 30, pregnant, and broke. Faced with a future in the home town she once fought to escape, she's beginning to wonder if having a baby will be the last spontaneous act of her life. Ed, a barely competent bike courier, can't wait to settle down with Maggie. But she doesn't know that he has a secret history with Maggie's best friend Phil. Phil hates his office job and is living for the weekends. He lives in an illegal warehouse commune and is falling for his housemate, Keith. There's just one problem: Keith already has a boyfriend, and Phil doesn't know if there's room for one more person in the relationship. As the temperature continues to climb, the three will have to confront their shared pasts, current desires, and limits of their future lives together. Strikingly heartfelt, sexually charged, and disarmingly comic, Oisín McKenna's debut is a mesmerizing dive into the soul of a city and a critical look at the hurdles facing young adults trying to build lives there.
"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 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, me