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Sugartown
For fans of Sally Rooney and Megan Nolan comes a remarkable debut about a young woman who returns to her Irish hometown to find that nothing has changed, except herself
Saoirse’s life has lost what little direction it once had. Forced to move back in with her mother after a bad breakup, she finds herself living alongside three younger sisters she barely knows. Worse still, the brittle, distant woman who raised her is gone, replaced by a doting mother who showers her younger children with affection.
Saoirse thought she'd escaped this whirlwind of family drama when she moved to London; now, she's not so sure. She throws herself into a new relationship (fun), rekindling childhood friendships (mostly fun), and reacquainting herself with the pubs and clubs that were the backdrop to her teenage years (somehow less fun than it once was). It takes a chance accident to force Saoirse to face up to all the questions she's been running away from, not least, what does it mean to return home to a place you barely recognise?
Razor-sharp and full of wit, Sugartown is a powerful story about what happens when growing up means outgrowing the place - and people - you once thought you knew.
Saoirse’s life has lost what little direction it once had. Forced to move back in with her mother after a bad breakup, she finds herself living alongside three younger sisters she barely knows. Worse still, the brittle, distant woman who raised her is gone, replaced by a doting mother who showers her younger children with affection.
Saoirse thought she'd escaped this whirlwind of family drama when she moved to London; now, she's not so sure. She throws herself into a new relationship (fun), rekindling childhood friendships (mostly fun), and reacquainting herself with the pubs and clubs that were the backdrop to her teenage years (somehow less fun than it once was). It takes a chance accident to force Saoirse to face up to all the questions she's been running away from, not least, what does it mean to return home to a place you barely recognise?
Razor-sharp and full of wit, Sugartown is a powerful story about what happens when growing up means outgrowing the place - and people - you once thought you knew.
192 pages, Hardcover
Published September 4, 2025
74 people are currently reading
1898 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
December 12, 2025
sally rooney wanna be vibes...
this one… hmm. it’s easy to read, the setting is okay, and the characters are okay, but it didn’t grab me the way i hoped. still a fine, light, lowkey read if you’re in the mood for something easy to follow, just not as sharp or memorable as i wanted.
this one… hmm. it’s easy to read, the setting is okay, and the characters are okay, but it didn’t grab me the way i hoped. still a fine, light, lowkey read if you’re in the mood for something easy to follow, just not as sharp or memorable as i wanted.
October 10, 2025
Awful.This story has been told many times before,and much better.Predictable, clichéd.
November 22, 2025
irish literature somehow really manages to strike the balance between being super raw and honest and very subtle at the same time - this one shows that once again. loved reading about saoirse and her navigating life in her 20s - it simply is fricking hard.
September 22, 2025
4/5
Viena tų lėtų, skaudžių, šiaip jau ganėtinai depresiškų istorijų, kuriose tarsi nieko per daug neįvyksta, bet aš vis tiek pasijaučiau įsitraukusi. Labai airiška, labai gerai papildanti tą liūdnų mažų miestelių ir juose gyvenančių liūdnų mažų žmogelių kategoriją, kur nuo pat pradžių žinai, kad apie jokias laimingas pabaigas čia turbūt negali eiti nė kalbos, bet šiuo atveju, jei jums tai svarbu, o ir ne joks spoileris, pabaiga vilties suteikia. Tik tiek – nieko daugiau ir nežadėjo, nieko daugiau ir negalėtų pasiūlyti, nes turi likti ištikima žanrui. Aišku, kaip ir visos airės, rašančios tokias knygas, Maxwell sulaukia lyginimo su Rooney ir Nolan. Mano akyse ji tikrai netempia iki nei vienos iš jų, bet tai jokiu būdu nereiškia, kad knyga neverta dėmesio – tiesiog kad ta airių kartelė baisiai aukštai.
Veikėjai čia įvairūs, tik, aišku, vienodai nelaimingi, daug purvo ir alkoholio, liūdesio ir nesusikalbėjimų, saviplakos ir visa mental issues puokštė, perduodama iš kartos į kartą, ignoruojama iki kol kas nors nesugriūna taip, kad ignoruoti nebeišeina. Yra ir meilės istorija, jei pasirenkame ją taip vadinti, labai realistiška ir pažįstama daugeliui, deitinusių kažkada tarp 2015-2025-ų metų. O kai kurie dalykai išvis amžini, tik galvoju, kad visgi tiems, kam iki trisdešimt, turbūt surezonuos labiausiai, nes pasirodys atpažįstamiausia. Bet ar ne panašiai su Rooney ir Nolan? Aišku, tie „iki trisdešimt“ irgi turi būti tam tikro tipažo, aplinkos ir požiūrio, bet jei jaučiat, kad jums gali rezonuoti šita liūdna neilga istorija, siūlau pamėginti – žanrui nieko labai naujo nepasiūlo, bet stovi ant savų kojų solidžiai.
Viena tų lėtų, skaudžių, šiaip jau ganėtinai depresiškų istorijų, kuriose tarsi nieko per daug neįvyksta, bet aš vis tiek pasijaučiau įsitraukusi. Labai airiška, labai gerai papildanti tą liūdnų mažų miestelių ir juose gyvenančių liūdnų mažų žmogelių kategoriją, kur nuo pat pradžių žinai, kad apie jokias laimingas pabaigas čia turbūt negali eiti nė kalbos, bet šiuo atveju, jei jums tai svarbu, o ir ne joks spoileris, pabaiga vilties suteikia. Tik tiek – nieko daugiau ir nežadėjo, nieko daugiau ir negalėtų pasiūlyti, nes turi likti ištikima žanrui. Aišku, kaip ir visos airės, rašančios tokias knygas, Maxwell sulaukia lyginimo su Rooney ir Nolan. Mano akyse ji tikrai netempia iki nei vienos iš jų, bet tai jokiu būdu nereiškia, kad knyga neverta dėmesio – tiesiog kad ta airių kartelė baisiai aukštai.
Veikėjai čia įvairūs, tik, aišku, vienodai nelaimingi, daug purvo ir alkoholio, liūdesio ir nesusikalbėjimų, saviplakos ir visa mental issues puokštė, perduodama iš kartos į kartą, ignoruojama iki kol kas nors nesugriūna taip, kad ignoruoti nebeišeina. Yra ir meilės istorija, jei pasirenkame ją taip vadinti, labai realistiška ir pažįstama daugeliui, deitinusių kažkada tarp 2015-2025-ų metų. O kai kurie dalykai išvis amžini, tik galvoju, kad visgi tiems, kam iki trisdešimt, turbūt surezonuos labiausiai, nes pasirodys atpažįstamiausia. Bet ar ne panašiai su Rooney ir Nolan? Aišku, tie „iki trisdešimt“ irgi turi būti tam tikro tipažo, aplinkos ir požiūrio, bet jei jaučiat, kad jums gali rezonuoti šita liūdna neilga istorija, siūlau pamėginti – žanrui nieko labai naujo nepasiūlo, bet stovi ant savų kojų solidžiai.
September 22, 2025
Sugartown by Caragh Maxwell is a stunning debut novel. Raw, desperate and tender, it has left me looking forward to the next book of Caragh's. I read somewhere that Sugartown had over 40 rejections - I can't believe that!!! The publishers who rejected it should give their heads a wobble! I'm glad Caragh persevered.
October 22, 2025
A little too close to home.
December 11, 2025
4,5⭐️
Dit boek gekocht tijdens een dagtrip naar Kilkenny in Ierland. Het gaat over de 23-jarige Saoirse die vanuit Londen terug moet verhuizen naar haar kleine geboorte dorp in Ierland, en over alle moeilijkheden die daarbij komen kijken: oude vrienden, nieuwe gezinsopstelling, terugkerend familie trauma. Vond het een heel mooi en rauw boek, met interessante verhaallijnen voor de bijpersonages. Soms werd ik er tijdens het lezen ook een beetje ongemakkelijk van dus dan deed het echt wat met me.
Dit boek gekocht tijdens een dagtrip naar Kilkenny in Ierland. Het gaat over de 23-jarige Saoirse die vanuit Londen terug moet verhuizen naar haar kleine geboorte dorp in Ierland, en over alle moeilijkheden die daarbij komen kijken: oude vrienden, nieuwe gezinsopstelling, terugkerend familie trauma. Vond het een heel mooi en rauw boek, met interessante verhaallijnen voor de bijpersonages. Soms werd ik er tijdens het lezen ook een beetje ongemakkelijk van dus dan deed het echt wat met me.
March 8, 2026
Depressing drama set in the midlands? Hook it to my veins.
December 30, 2025
I really liked the writing style in this book. Every scene and situation is described so well that I feel like I know Saoirse, the main character. An impressive debut novel from Caragh Maxwell.
November 29, 2025
This book gave me war flashbacks.
January 9, 2026
The writing was done well in this but I fear I've read one too many "messed up girl in their early 20s" novel. Bonus points for being set in Mullingar tho
January 21, 2026
4.5 stars ⭐️
About a sad girl, for sad girls.
Beautiful writing, full of heart, and packed with infuriating characters.
About a sad girl, for sad girls.
Beautiful writing, full of heart, and packed with infuriating characters.
January 30, 2026
Saoirse trekt in bij haar moeder, stiefzusjes en de nieuwe man van haar moeder.
Na een relatiebreuk heeft ze ruimte en tijd nodig. Ze is nog niet helemaal klaar voor de volwassen wereld en wordt meegesleept door haar jeugvriendin van het ene naar het andere feestje. Al vlug krijgt haar leven meer kleur. Een baantje en een vriendje zorgen voor wat stabiliteit. Maar kan wat begon als een uit de hand gelopen avond op haar eerste feestje terug in de hand gehouden worden...
.
Soms moet je de diepte raken voordat je jezelf terug kan vinden.
.
Een vlot geschreven verhaal dat nu al vergeleken wordt met werken van Sally Rooney. Waar ik bijvoorbeeld in Normal People niet echt grip kreeg op de personages kreeg ik rap een klik met het hoofdpersonage. Een open en eerlijke kijk in het verleden van Saoirse zorgt ervoor dat je hoopt dat ze het leven terug oppakt. Ze is zoekende, doet haar best maar kan geen nee zeggen tegen haar donker kantje.
Na een harde keuze van Saoirse moeder neemt ze met wat hulp de touwtjes eindelijk terug in handen.
.
Waauw wat ben ik blij dat ik dit boek een kans heb gegeven. Emoties moeten gevoeld worden en als dat niet gebeurd kan het onverwachtse gevolgen hebben. Een aanrader. Een verhaal dat toont dat het ok is om hulp te vragen en aanvaarden.
Na een relatiebreuk heeft ze ruimte en tijd nodig. Ze is nog niet helemaal klaar voor de volwassen wereld en wordt meegesleept door haar jeugvriendin van het ene naar het andere feestje. Al vlug krijgt haar leven meer kleur. Een baantje en een vriendje zorgen voor wat stabiliteit. Maar kan wat begon als een uit de hand gelopen avond op haar eerste feestje terug in de hand gehouden worden...
.
Soms moet je de diepte raken voordat je jezelf terug kan vinden.
.
Een vlot geschreven verhaal dat nu al vergeleken wordt met werken van Sally Rooney. Waar ik bijvoorbeeld in Normal People niet echt grip kreeg op de personages kreeg ik rap een klik met het hoofdpersonage. Een open en eerlijke kijk in het verleden van Saoirse zorgt ervoor dat je hoopt dat ze het leven terug oppakt. Ze is zoekende, doet haar best maar kan geen nee zeggen tegen haar donker kantje.
Na een harde keuze van Saoirse moeder neemt ze met wat hulp de touwtjes eindelijk terug in handen.
.
Waauw wat ben ik blij dat ik dit boek een kans heb gegeven. Emoties moeten gevoeld worden en als dat niet gebeurd kan het onverwachtse gevolgen hebben. Een aanrader. Een verhaal dat toont dat het ok is om hulp te vragen en aanvaarden.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2026
“Nevertheless, we started to understand one another. Tendrils of him took root inside my chest like wallflowers in the crevices of brick, filling up old cracks and missing mortar. I would water him, sun him, tear myself down to make sure he grew. This I already knew even before I loved him. It was just my way.” Oh how I loved Caragh Maxwell’s debut novel, Sugartown, such a tender, open-hearted exploration of family and early adulthood and independence. Saoirse Maher’s life in London has fallen apart and she’s moved back to her mother Máire’s house in the Irish Midlands. Here Saoirse is forced to confront all that is wild and poisonous in her life: generational trauma, cold mother, alcoholic and distant father, and sisters she hardly knows; a history of untreated depression; a pattern of substance abuse easily waved away as “social” despite its constant damage to her life; a sense of unbelonging, a lack of purpose and responsibility, a well of romantic longing that is incompatible with her inability to be honest or to advocate for herself. All the mundane failings of any person that make them feel like a fuck-up. Maxwell sketches all of her characters so carefully and caringly, that even at their worst there is such love for them, in the prose and in the reader too I think; even characters like Doireann, who could easily stray into “stock best friend” territory, is so real and realised, so nuanced, she and everyone else are not just real people, but people you know. I’m in such awe of how Maxwell holds up familial relationships to the light, taking them apart and putting them back together, and considering so widely how these dynamics afflict every party involved, not just the flawed but inherently champion-able protagonist: we want better for and from Saoirse because we want better for and from ourselves. A sad but glitteringly hopeful gem.
January 18, 2026
Perhaps a 4 star - maybe. I enjoyed aspects of all the characters besides Connor but the storyline was not very gripping. The story lacked any real substance so I actually cannot fathom anything more to say.
January 26, 2026
Absolutely blazing debut. Ate this up in about a day. It was so dear and really for the kids whose main activity in high school was driving around with boys
March 4, 2026
This was kinda boring
March 26, 2026
Ben fan van de opkomst van meer Ierse romans!! maar vond deze toch net niet de juiste snaar raken. veel tiener drama, weinig vernieuwende inzichten
February 21, 2026
This was nothing and everything at the same time. Gave me the ‘we got Sally Rooney at home’ vibe.
3,5 ✨
3,5 ✨
January 14, 2026
Il m’a fallu quelques pages pour rentrer dedans, le style est à la fois dense et très tell. Et en même temps, une fois plongée dedans, j’ai vraiment beaucoup aimé cette lecture. J’ai aimé ce que ça dit de rentrer chez soi après avoir grandi, j’ai aimé cette relation mère/fille complexe et tranchante, j’ai adoré Saoirse (vraiment, son perso m’a beaucoup touchée : son alcoolisme, sa haine de soi, son côté autodestructeur qui m’a tellement donné envie de la prendre dans mes bras) et j’ai adoré l’histoire, en fait.
Oui, c’est simple et oui, ça a peut-être déjà été dit, mais ça fait quand même du bien de le relire et, surtout, c’est bien fait. La fin m’a beaucoup touchée et j’ai aimé les notes d’espoir, car ce roman rappelle, je crois, la violence de vivre, souvent.
Oui, c’est simple et oui, ça a peut-être déjà été dit, mais ça fait quand même du bien de le relire et, surtout, c’est bien fait. La fin m’a beaucoup touchée et j’ai aimé les notes d’espoir, car ce roman rappelle, je crois, la violence de vivre, souvent.
March 3, 2026
I can understand the criticisms of this book, but I didn’t mind it. Easy to be frustrated with the main character for her behaviour and choices but good plot on generational trauma/parental impact
March 2, 2026
„I was a woman who had issues with other women. Inherited, I was fairly sure, from my mother, and her from her own mother, and so on. Intergenerational awkwardness, passed down like mother of pearl earrings or a lace wedding veil, from one pale, spindly hand to another. (…) I eventually had friends in secondary school, but I was so nervous about seeming abnormal to them that I put myself in increasingly dangerous and uncomfortable situations just to project an image of myself that was, to me and to them, socially acceptable.“
„We were all made of stardust; loose atoms and glittering molecules, glued together by the idea of meaning something. Mattering. Matter was the only matter and my eyes could not make it stick.“
„I was over the peak of my high, I noticed; the butterflies he gave me felt closer to earth than anything else.“
„My stomach had sunk at my sisters' liberal use of the name Mammy, a name I was not, under any circumstances, allowed to use for my mother. No Mammys, Mummys, Mams, Mums, Mas or Auld Ones had been permitted to pass my lips since Id said my first word - which was, funnily enough, Kieran, my father's name.“
„Shovelling shit, serving pints, cleaning toilets, assembling car parts - it didn't matter what the job was, as long as it was yours you'd get the same pat on the back as if you'd just become a paediatric surgeon or a rocket scientist.“
„On the counter next to the bin was a half-empty bottle of chardonnay. Before I knew it, the lukewarm wine was halfway down my aesophagus. Why am I doing this? The impulse was bizarre, even for me. I was a strict non-believer in imbibing the hair of the dog that bit me. Still, I drained the bottle. Then I panicked and rinsed my mouth with tap water. Then I was drunk again. All within fifteen minutes of waking up. (…) Naturally, eventually, I was sick in the kitchen sink. Drunk and hungover at the same time. Can I put that under Achievements on my CV?“
„I wanted Charlie to take me home with him. I wanted him to stroke my hair and let me snake an arm across his chest. I wanted to nap together for hours in a bed that smelled of him. I did not want to ask for any of this so he
dropped me off at Maire's house and then I was sulky as well as hungover. We didn't speak the entire drive.“
„All evening, I telepathically willed my phone to ding. Just one message. Just one little hi or hey. Anything. Just let me know you're thinking about me too.“
„And then she snapped the window shut and I drifted out of the yard, across the fence and down towards the grove of crooked apple trees to think for the first time about a world without me in it, and what that would look like for everyone I knew. The answer was always better.“
„Those words rang in my head every single day of my life after. I thought about them first thing in the morning, last thing at night, mid-daydream, mid-nightmare. They were my poltergeist, rearranging the furniture inside of my body, knocking things over, shattering them. They hung between my ears as big and bright as a blood moon as I moved around her kitchen now; (…)“
„—You alright?
I thought of all the things I wanted to say; all the hurt inside of me that stayed perpetually hidden in the shallows like basking sharks, thought of how his face would change as the words formed in the air between us, first into a slight gape of shock, and then into a withered mask of pity and maybe even disgust at how pathetic I was, really, behind it all. So instead I said yeah, grand and let him take my hand.“
„Charlie noticed, asked if I was okay as I grabbed my handbag out of the footwell, and even though I nodded and smiled, I so desperately wanted him to say I'll cancel poker and stay here with you. But he didn't, and I wouldn't ask. Every time life gave us a chance to get closer, he seemed to pull away on reflex. Either that or he was entirely oblivious.“
„He switched my soul on. He was my heaven. We were playing house, I knew that. But I was more than happy to pretend at being a long-term live-in couple with all of the passion and none of the crushing responsibility, no rows over unpaid bills, no compromising food taste for vegan options, no passive-aggressive dish-washing or bed-making.“
„By the final weekend of the summer, I was richer financially but poorer in the will to live.“
„I didn't want to fight with him, because I thought both Doireann and Charlie would pick him over me in a heartbeat. So I smiled, tried not to hate him, and worked instead on making sure everyone else loved me.“
„As l walked, I put my headphones in, put on Elliot Smith, and cried. I cried until I couldn't see and the sun was stinging my ruddy, sodden cheeks, eyes red raw and snot running out of me, wailing as I pounded the footpaths towards home, which was a hefty trek, but I didn't care. I just wanted to scream and cry and be alone and let all the misery run out of me onto the concrete of what happened to be the most affluent part of town.“
„I slid on my sunglasses, (…) that I'd picked up at a flea market and that had fit my features so perfectly I was instantly sad because I knew that one day I'd lose them, break them, or forget about them somewhere, on the seat of a bus maybe, or the back of a toilet in a pub or something. That was a very me move.“
„My sisters were now deathly quiet, Máire's threat hanging over them like the sword of Damocles. I had to fix it. The disharmony was making me anxious, causing flashbacks to a childhood where nobody fixed things for me. They were just overtired little girls clamouring for attention like small children do. There was no need to shout. Even if my mother's threat had no credence, her tone of voice, the venom in it was threat enough.“
„I polished these memories like gemstones.
I cracked them open like geodes, to examine their hidden shimmering surfaces before glueing them back together. I wanted to forget them and never wanted to let them go at the same time. Who was I, if not the sum of every bad thing that had ever happened to me?“
„All the holes in my heart had now joined together, trunk to tail, a line of elephants meandering through the desert.“
„It wasn't hard to guess why he didn't want me anymore. He'd confirmed everything I secretly believed about myself. I wasn't anything special. I worked a minimum wage job and lived at home with no plans extending further than my next payday. I wasn't so pretty that my behaviour could be forgotten about with a quick smile, a flash of tanned cleavage, and a flutter of mink eyelashes. Why did I have to be the way that I was? Why was I such a stupid drunk bitch with no filter and no manners? Why did I ruin everything?“
„I wanted to pull him into the complex web of my nervous system. I wanted to place his heart on top of mine and have them beat in synchronicity for all time.“
„I wished I could freeze us both. The goodbye was imminent. I knew I wasn't likely to really see him again. I knew something was ending but nothing felt like it was beginning.“
„Nothing is permanent except transience. Things can change and be changed back again. Sometimes pain isn't decimation; it's growth. Growing hurts too. I thought my crying would escalate, but by the time his tail lights were merely red specks, my face was dry.“
„We were all made of stardust; loose atoms and glittering molecules, glued together by the idea of meaning something. Mattering. Matter was the only matter and my eyes could not make it stick.“
„I was over the peak of my high, I noticed; the butterflies he gave me felt closer to earth than anything else.“
„My stomach had sunk at my sisters' liberal use of the name Mammy, a name I was not, under any circumstances, allowed to use for my mother. No Mammys, Mummys, Mams, Mums, Mas or Auld Ones had been permitted to pass my lips since Id said my first word - which was, funnily enough, Kieran, my father's name.“
„Shovelling shit, serving pints, cleaning toilets, assembling car parts - it didn't matter what the job was, as long as it was yours you'd get the same pat on the back as if you'd just become a paediatric surgeon or a rocket scientist.“
„On the counter next to the bin was a half-empty bottle of chardonnay. Before I knew it, the lukewarm wine was halfway down my aesophagus. Why am I doing this? The impulse was bizarre, even for me. I was a strict non-believer in imbibing the hair of the dog that bit me. Still, I drained the bottle. Then I panicked and rinsed my mouth with tap water. Then I was drunk again. All within fifteen minutes of waking up. (…) Naturally, eventually, I was sick in the kitchen sink. Drunk and hungover at the same time. Can I put that under Achievements on my CV?“
„I wanted Charlie to take me home with him. I wanted him to stroke my hair and let me snake an arm across his chest. I wanted to nap together for hours in a bed that smelled of him. I did not want to ask for any of this so he
dropped me off at Maire's house and then I was sulky as well as hungover. We didn't speak the entire drive.“
„All evening, I telepathically willed my phone to ding. Just one message. Just one little hi or hey. Anything. Just let me know you're thinking about me too.“
„And then she snapped the window shut and I drifted out of the yard, across the fence and down towards the grove of crooked apple trees to think for the first time about a world without me in it, and what that would look like for everyone I knew. The answer was always better.“
„Those words rang in my head every single day of my life after. I thought about them first thing in the morning, last thing at night, mid-daydream, mid-nightmare. They were my poltergeist, rearranging the furniture inside of my body, knocking things over, shattering them. They hung between my ears as big and bright as a blood moon as I moved around her kitchen now; (…)“
„—You alright?
I thought of all the things I wanted to say; all the hurt inside of me that stayed perpetually hidden in the shallows like basking sharks, thought of how his face would change as the words formed in the air between us, first into a slight gape of shock, and then into a withered mask of pity and maybe even disgust at how pathetic I was, really, behind it all. So instead I said yeah, grand and let him take my hand.“
„Charlie noticed, asked if I was okay as I grabbed my handbag out of the footwell, and even though I nodded and smiled, I so desperately wanted him to say I'll cancel poker and stay here with you. But he didn't, and I wouldn't ask. Every time life gave us a chance to get closer, he seemed to pull away on reflex. Either that or he was entirely oblivious.“
„He switched my soul on. He was my heaven. We were playing house, I knew that. But I was more than happy to pretend at being a long-term live-in couple with all of the passion and none of the crushing responsibility, no rows over unpaid bills, no compromising food taste for vegan options, no passive-aggressive dish-washing or bed-making.“
„By the final weekend of the summer, I was richer financially but poorer in the will to live.“
„I didn't want to fight with him, because I thought both Doireann and Charlie would pick him over me in a heartbeat. So I smiled, tried not to hate him, and worked instead on making sure everyone else loved me.“
„As l walked, I put my headphones in, put on Elliot Smith, and cried. I cried until I couldn't see and the sun was stinging my ruddy, sodden cheeks, eyes red raw and snot running out of me, wailing as I pounded the footpaths towards home, which was a hefty trek, but I didn't care. I just wanted to scream and cry and be alone and let all the misery run out of me onto the concrete of what happened to be the most affluent part of town.“
„I slid on my sunglasses, (…) that I'd picked up at a flea market and that had fit my features so perfectly I was instantly sad because I knew that one day I'd lose them, break them, or forget about them somewhere, on the seat of a bus maybe, or the back of a toilet in a pub or something. That was a very me move.“
„My sisters were now deathly quiet, Máire's threat hanging over them like the sword of Damocles. I had to fix it. The disharmony was making me anxious, causing flashbacks to a childhood where nobody fixed things for me. They were just overtired little girls clamouring for attention like small children do. There was no need to shout. Even if my mother's threat had no credence, her tone of voice, the venom in it was threat enough.“
„I polished these memories like gemstones.
I cracked them open like geodes, to examine their hidden shimmering surfaces before glueing them back together. I wanted to forget them and never wanted to let them go at the same time. Who was I, if not the sum of every bad thing that had ever happened to me?“
„All the holes in my heart had now joined together, trunk to tail, a line of elephants meandering through the desert.“
„It wasn't hard to guess why he didn't want me anymore. He'd confirmed everything I secretly believed about myself. I wasn't anything special. I worked a minimum wage job and lived at home with no plans extending further than my next payday. I wasn't so pretty that my behaviour could be forgotten about with a quick smile, a flash of tanned cleavage, and a flutter of mink eyelashes. Why did I have to be the way that I was? Why was I such a stupid drunk bitch with no filter and no manners? Why did I ruin everything?“
„I wanted to pull him into the complex web of my nervous system. I wanted to place his heart on top of mine and have them beat in synchronicity for all time.“
„I wished I could freeze us both. The goodbye was imminent. I knew I wasn't likely to really see him again. I knew something was ending but nothing felt like it was beginning.“
„Nothing is permanent except transience. Things can change and be changed back again. Sometimes pain isn't decimation; it's growth. Growing hurts too. I thought my crying would escalate, but by the time his tail lights were merely red specks, my face was dry.“
February 12, 2026
An enjoyable read. Not breaking the mould or a wower but a cosy book to breeze through in a day.
January 3, 2026
Beautiful
December 4, 2025
Sugartown by Caragh Maxwell published September 18th with Oneworld and was shortlisted for the recent An Post Irish Book Awards 2025. It is described as ‘a remarkable new Irish debut about growing up and moving backwards' and is recommended for fans of Sally Rooney and Megan Nolan.
Recently I watched The Walsh Sisters(Marian Keyes screen adaptation) and Saoirse Maher reminded me in so many ways of Rachel Walsh. Saoirse Maher is lost. In her twenties, her relationship has crumbled and she has been left with no choice but to return home to Ireland. When she had emigrated to London, she thought she would never be back again but now, broke and defeated, her options are non-existent. Saoirse had a difficult childhood. Born to young parents, unable to fulfil their role, Saoirse watched her mother and father drink too much and fail to look after her, leaving her often in the care of her grandmother. As soon as she could Saoirse had turned her back on her Irish life ready to begin again but now, inevitably, she is sucked right back into life in a rural town with all that it entails.
Saoirse has little confidence and she hides behind any drink and drugs that she can get her hands on. Her mother, Máire, now in a new relationship, has three little girls and is struggling to accept Saoirse back into her life. Máire is very tightly strung and can’t abide the lack of motivation she recognises in Saoirse. Having made a mess of her own early years, it’s clear that having Saoirse back in her life, is something she could do without.
Saoirse tries really hard to fit back in. She gets a local job, she falls in love, she reconnects with old friends but her mind is too messed up to settle. Every night out results in Saoirse stumbling out the door of the pub, falling down the steps of a nightclub or blacking out.
Saoirse Maher has issues. With jarring descriptions her exploits and thought-processes are brilliantly depicted as she struggles to get out of bed every day. There is a lingering sense of loss surrounding her that permeates everything she does. It’s clear that she knows she should do better but she can’t. She is like a wrecking ball in so many aspects of her life and, while back home, the magnifying glass is focused on her every move.
Caragh Maxwell has written a very striking debut that lingers well after the final page. Her ability to pinpoint Saoirse’s thoughts and feelings with such clarity is expertly done and will resonate with many. Heart-breaking, raw, and intense Sugartown offers a tender yet unflinching look at addiction. It tracks a flawed protagonist spiralling through ever-evolving circumstances while desperately fighting to cope. Gritty and deeply moving, Sugartown is a cracking tale, one that promises great things for Caragh Maxwell’s future work.
Recently I watched The Walsh Sisters(Marian Keyes screen adaptation) and Saoirse Maher reminded me in so many ways of Rachel Walsh. Saoirse Maher is lost. In her twenties, her relationship has crumbled and she has been left with no choice but to return home to Ireland. When she had emigrated to London, she thought she would never be back again but now, broke and defeated, her options are non-existent. Saoirse had a difficult childhood. Born to young parents, unable to fulfil their role, Saoirse watched her mother and father drink too much and fail to look after her, leaving her often in the care of her grandmother. As soon as she could Saoirse had turned her back on her Irish life ready to begin again but now, inevitably, she is sucked right back into life in a rural town with all that it entails.
Saoirse has little confidence and she hides behind any drink and drugs that she can get her hands on. Her mother, Máire, now in a new relationship, has three little girls and is struggling to accept Saoirse back into her life. Máire is very tightly strung and can’t abide the lack of motivation she recognises in Saoirse. Having made a mess of her own early years, it’s clear that having Saoirse back in her life, is something she could do without.
Saoirse tries really hard to fit back in. She gets a local job, she falls in love, she reconnects with old friends but her mind is too messed up to settle. Every night out results in Saoirse stumbling out the door of the pub, falling down the steps of a nightclub or blacking out.
Saoirse Maher has issues. With jarring descriptions her exploits and thought-processes are brilliantly depicted as she struggles to get out of bed every day. There is a lingering sense of loss surrounding her that permeates everything she does. It’s clear that she knows she should do better but she can’t. She is like a wrecking ball in so many aspects of her life and, while back home, the magnifying glass is focused on her every move.
Caragh Maxwell has written a very striking debut that lingers well after the final page. Her ability to pinpoint Saoirse’s thoughts and feelings with such clarity is expertly done and will resonate with many. Heart-breaking, raw, and intense Sugartown offers a tender yet unflinching look at addiction. It tracks a flawed protagonist spiralling through ever-evolving circumstances while desperately fighting to cope. Gritty and deeply moving, Sugartown is a cracking tale, one that promises great things for Caragh Maxwell’s future work.
January 21, 2026
3.5/3.75
This was a difficult read simply because I could relate to it, in a harsh and unyielding way. I can’t even call it beautiful, it’s just very bleak
-
She would have preferred to forget he ever existed at all. But there I was, every day, the slope of my nose and the jut of my chin reminding her.
-
I had begun to understand the inevitability of suffering. My mother liked to say I had an old soul. I suspect it had more to do with the way we were living.
-
We were all made of stardust; loose atoms and glittering molecules, glued together by the idea of meaning something. Mattering. Matter was the only matter and my eyes could not make it stick.
I could see the earth, a round blue ball hovering on the edge of nothingness, swathed in cloud and swirled with moss. I was not visible. I was not even a speck, a wink, a sparkle. I was nothing, just as everyone around me was nothing, bacteria on the crag of a rock hurtling through a vacuum with no understanding of the beginning or the end, or what comes after the end, or if anything even came before the beginning or after the end. Everything I had done and ever would do amounted to a flatline this far up. In the glaring darkness of the Milky Way, my emotions were moot, my experiences a blip on an infinite calendar, a dot of ink on the trillionth Friday of the billionth April of the millionth year. I am a void, I whispered to myself.
-
My mother made me the keeper of her happiness and then blithely unmade me, like it was nothing.
She said she didn’t know what to do with me. Neither did I.
-
Why was I so difficult to love?
Why didn’t I stay in college or even do a course, why didn’t I have a single iota of ambition? Why didn’t I care enough about anything to be anything worth caring about?
-
I wasn’t supposed to be here. That was always the problem.
Who was I, if not the sum of every bad thing that had ever happened to me?
-
She loved me because I was her child. She was furious with me for the same reason.
I could feel the fury thrumming in her pulse, the rage, the disappointment that, in the end, I had turned out just like the both of them.
-
The thought of having no control over myself was no longer appealing. Big girls don’t relinquish control to the ether. They seize the wheel and keep themselves on the goddamned road.
I couldn’t need my mother ever again. My father, either.
-
Nothing is permanent except transience. Things can change and be changed back again. Sometimes pain isn’t decimation; it’s growth. Growing hurts too.
You’ll be okay. You survived every day of your life so far, you’ll survive the next few.
This was a difficult read simply because I could relate to it, in a harsh and unyielding way. I can’t even call it beautiful, it’s just very bleak
-
She would have preferred to forget he ever existed at all. But there I was, every day, the slope of my nose and the jut of my chin reminding her.
-
I had begun to understand the inevitability of suffering. My mother liked to say I had an old soul. I suspect it had more to do with the way we were living.
-
We were all made of stardust; loose atoms and glittering molecules, glued together by the idea of meaning something. Mattering. Matter was the only matter and my eyes could not make it stick.
I could see the earth, a round blue ball hovering on the edge of nothingness, swathed in cloud and swirled with moss. I was not visible. I was not even a speck, a wink, a sparkle. I was nothing, just as everyone around me was nothing, bacteria on the crag of a rock hurtling through a vacuum with no understanding of the beginning or the end, or what comes after the end, or if anything even came before the beginning or after the end. Everything I had done and ever would do amounted to a flatline this far up. In the glaring darkness of the Milky Way, my emotions were moot, my experiences a blip on an infinite calendar, a dot of ink on the trillionth Friday of the billionth April of the millionth year. I am a void, I whispered to myself.
-
My mother made me the keeper of her happiness and then blithely unmade me, like it was nothing.
She said she didn’t know what to do with me. Neither did I.
-
Why was I so difficult to love?
Why didn’t I stay in college or even do a course, why didn’t I have a single iota of ambition? Why didn’t I care enough about anything to be anything worth caring about?
-
I wasn’t supposed to be here. That was always the problem.
Who was I, if not the sum of every bad thing that had ever happened to me?
-
She loved me because I was her child. She was furious with me for the same reason.
I could feel the fury thrumming in her pulse, the rage, the disappointment that, in the end, I had turned out just like the both of them.
-
The thought of having no control over myself was no longer appealing. Big girls don’t relinquish control to the ether. They seize the wheel and keep themselves on the goddamned road.
I couldn’t need my mother ever again. My father, either.
-
Nothing is permanent except transience. Things can change and be changed back again. Sometimes pain isn’t decimation; it’s growth. Growing hurts too.
You’ll be okay. You survived every day of your life so far, you’ll survive the next few.
February 23, 2026
At first I wasn’t crazy about this book. It felt slow and like everyone story centered around the young adult experience in a small Irish town, returning from London. BUT my mind was quickly changed and I gorged on this book like a pint after Dry January. I wanted to hit Saoirse and give her a bear hug at the same time. The depictions of falling into despair after drinking and grappling with her suicidal ideations felt powerful and definitely resonated with me. I highlighted so much of this story and it would be remiss not to share some of the prose, full of character, raw emotion, despair and sometimes humor!
“Personally wouldn’t have given him the steam off my piss if he was dying of thirst, but that wasn’t my choice”- the only problem I have with this line is that I didn’t come up with it.
For context, Saoirse was talking about fighting for sleep, being awake after longing for it to take her all day, but her trauma keeps her away. She ‘polished these memories like gemstones’. This is literally what I do, thinking about the demise of every romantic and platonic relationship I’ve ever had and every time I’ve said the wrong thing in front of a colleague.
“The only reason I might have gotten out of bed during daylight was to wait for death on the floor” and of course, an honorable mention to “nothing is permanent except transience. Things can change and be changed back again.” On reflection I love this even more, self forgiveness and moving on are new pillars in my life so this unlocks newfound, personal appreciation. ❤️
“Personally wouldn’t have given him the steam off my piss if he was dying of thirst, but that wasn’t my choice”- the only problem I have with this line is that I didn’t come up with it.
For context, Saoirse was talking about fighting for sleep, being awake after longing for it to take her all day, but her trauma keeps her away. She ‘polished these memories like gemstones’. This is literally what I do, thinking about the demise of every romantic and platonic relationship I’ve ever had and every time I’ve said the wrong thing in front of a colleague.
“The only reason I might have gotten out of bed during daylight was to wait for death on the floor” and of course, an honorable mention to “nothing is permanent except transience. Things can change and be changed back again.” On reflection I love this even more, self forgiveness and moving on are new pillars in my life so this unlocks newfound, personal appreciation. ❤️
November 7, 2025
I loved this book so much. An easy five star read. 👏🏻
What do you do when you’ve ruined your life? You go home to your mother. Saoirse Maher wouldn’t recommend it though. Saoirse leaves a messy break up in London to go back home to live in Ireland with her mother. Except the world she comes back to is nothing like the one she left behind. Her mother has a new family, and everyone else seems to be moving on…
Sugartown felt very close to home for me. Almost nostalgic. There was a time in my early twenties where I felt like I was spiralling like Saoirse. I had broken up with my boyfriend at the time and I didn’t really know what I was doing with my life nor who I was, I had outgrown some of my friends and my hometown felt suffocating. I was working in London and I was partying a lot to just escape and every come down just made my anxiety worse. This book was all of that. I could even relate to the Irish upbringing. My mum is Irish and she was tough. Although she was nothing like the mam in this book.
“Nobody Irish was ever too willing to let me feel sorry for myself.”
This book is about growing up and realising you’ve outgrown a place and people you once thought you knew. It’s about finding yourself again. I was rooting for Saoirse. She’s a character I could be friends with in real life. I also loved that female friendship was the core of this book too. Doireann was a star.
Sugartown had everything I love in a novel. It was painstakingly real, it describes growing up in nutshell and is so relatable. It was emotional, tragic, heartbreaking and sad and left me thinking about it long after I finished. I had a lump in my throat a few times and I felt everything and loved every page.
What do you do when you’ve ruined your life? You go home to your mother. Saoirse Maher wouldn’t recommend it though. Saoirse leaves a messy break up in London to go back home to live in Ireland with her mother. Except the world she comes back to is nothing like the one she left behind. Her mother has a new family, and everyone else seems to be moving on…
Sugartown felt very close to home for me. Almost nostalgic. There was a time in my early twenties where I felt like I was spiralling like Saoirse. I had broken up with my boyfriend at the time and I didn’t really know what I was doing with my life nor who I was, I had outgrown some of my friends and my hometown felt suffocating. I was working in London and I was partying a lot to just escape and every come down just made my anxiety worse. This book was all of that. I could even relate to the Irish upbringing. My mum is Irish and she was tough. Although she was nothing like the mam in this book.
“Nobody Irish was ever too willing to let me feel sorry for myself.”
This book is about growing up and realising you’ve outgrown a place and people you once thought you knew. It’s about finding yourself again. I was rooting for Saoirse. She’s a character I could be friends with in real life. I also loved that female friendship was the core of this book too. Doireann was a star.
Sugartown had everything I love in a novel. It was painstakingly real, it describes growing up in nutshell and is so relatable. It was emotional, tragic, heartbreaking and sad and left me thinking about it long after I finished. I had a lump in my throat a few times and I felt everything and loved every page.
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