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Stations
Not yet published
Expected 24 Sep 26In 1982, Róisín and Red meet as teenagers in their hometown in Ireland. Red's reputation for trouble might precede him, but Róisín finds in him an intelligent and funny – if unlikely – friend. When a brush with the law pushes Red into a corner, he escapes their town and his family for good to start a new life in England.
As the years pass, they grow up and apart. Despite Red's particular gift for disappearing, they remain tethered to one another, a fragile thread holding their once fierce friendship together. When Róisín arrives in London to spend Christmas with her estranged father, she finds herself swept up once more into Red's storm. Róisín longs for the closeness they once had, but Red continues to travel away from her – and as the past weighs on the present, Róisín wonders if she'll ever reach Red where he is.
Stations is a devastating story of love and friendship, and the choices we blithely make when we are young, unaware that the consequences will reverberate throughout our lives.
As the years pass, they grow up and apart. Despite Red's particular gift for disappearing, they remain tethered to one another, a fragile thread holding their once fierce friendship together. When Róisín arrives in London to spend Christmas with her estranged father, she finds herself swept up once more into Red's storm. Róisín longs for the closeness they once had, but Red continues to travel away from her – and as the past weighs on the present, Róisín wonders if she'll ever reach Red where he is.
Stations is a devastating story of love and friendship, and the choices we blithely make when we are young, unaware that the consequences will reverberate throughout our lives.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication September 24, 2026
About the author
Louise Kennedy
5 books840 followersLouise Kennedy grew up near Belfast. Trespasses is her first novel. She is also the author of a collection of short stories, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac. She has written for The Guardian, The Irish Times, and BBC Radio 4. Before becoming a writer, she worked as a chef for almost thirty years. She lives in Sligo, Ireland
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Review of advance copy received from Publisher
“And so they went on, throwing out truths without eye contact, the words so powerful neither of them could bear to behold their effect.”
Let this Irish novel germinate while you read. Stations is not meant to fill in a space between books, or as a propulsive plot (although the last 1/3 of the book just about destroyed me!). Kennedy’s world-building here is unflinching, infallible, and formidable. All those Fs in words! There are no straw characters or phony incidents. It’s so credibly authentic that I would have believed it as a memoir. This is the story, primarily, of Róisín McCaffrey and Red Camelin, which starts in the early 1980s and ends in 2007. Is it a love story? One of friendship? It is both, plus a story of community, isolation, grief, addiction, identity, family, found family, and a few unmentionables.
In a small town in Ireland (closest big city is Dublin), Róisín and Red meet in school, around age fifteen. Both outcasts, although Red is from a wealthy and influential family. However, it is obvious he doesn’t like to go home, and spends a lot of time staying with Róisín and Una (Róisín’s divorced mother) at their somewhat squalid but also homey home. Red is an attentive listener, and he will happily indulge Róisín. But he is circumspect, if not silent, about his own life. He may speak in generalizations, but Róisín repeatedly and unsuccessfully presses him to share more, to trust her with his guarded secrets.
Years pass, Róisín goes to college for a while, and Red takes off for the wilds, but they circle around and find each other. During this era, moving to London can put a chip on your Irish shoulder, but they both do that independently and end up squatting in a London building with several others. Red is still emotionally unreachable. Róisín remains besotted. “Sometimes she was so comfortable in his company she forgot herself, farting, mumbling aloud then, realizing he was there, feeling astonished to see him. Other times...it was as though a crackle of lightning was going between them, like God’s finger giving life to Adam in pictures she had seen from the Sistine Chapel.” Can these characters grow? One thing I learned young—wherever you go, there you are.
Conor, Róisín’s father, is an immature man and alcoholic with a new wife and a baby daughter, also in London. Róisín has a reason to visit now, to be with her sister, Mary. Family dynamics steer the choices that Róisín makes. The narrative grows outward, to the Irish diaspora in London, and sometimes inward again, almost claustrophobic. The prose is spot-on and restrained, a lot the reader can suss in the silent spaces. All characters have blind spots, some will leave you in pieces.
It’s a moving portrait of a complex and highly developed cast, foremost about Róisín and Red and the community that surrounds them. It unspools with delicacy-- but raw, too, a bittersweet finale-- no promises, and a twist of hope.
Thank you to Riverhead for sending me a copy for early review. I'm still waiting to exhale!
Let this Irish novel germinate while you read. Stations is not meant to fill in a space between books, or as a propulsive plot (although the last 1/3 of the book just about destroyed me!). Kennedy’s world-building here is unflinching, infallible, and formidable. All those Fs in words! There are no straw characters or phony incidents. It’s so credibly authentic that I would have believed it as a memoir. This is the story, primarily, of Róisín McCaffrey and Red Camelin, which starts in the early 1980s and ends in 2007. Is it a love story? One of friendship? It is both, plus a story of community, isolation, grief, addiction, identity, family, found family, and a few unmentionables.
In a small town in Ireland (closest big city is Dublin), Róisín and Red meet in school, around age fifteen. Both outcasts, although Red is from a wealthy and influential family. However, it is obvious he doesn’t like to go home, and spends a lot of time staying with Róisín and Una (Róisín’s divorced mother) at their somewhat squalid but also homey home. Red is an attentive listener, and he will happily indulge Róisín. But he is circumspect, if not silent, about his own life. He may speak in generalizations, but Róisín repeatedly and unsuccessfully presses him to share more, to trust her with his guarded secrets.
Years pass, Róisín goes to college for a while, and Red takes off for the wilds, but they circle around and find each other. During this era, moving to London can put a chip on your Irish shoulder, but they both do that independently and end up squatting in a London building with several others. Red is still emotionally unreachable. Róisín remains besotted. “Sometimes she was so comfortable in his company she forgot herself, farting, mumbling aloud then, realizing he was there, feeling astonished to see him. Other times...it was as though a crackle of lightning was going between them, like God’s finger giving life to Adam in pictures she had seen from the Sistine Chapel.” Can these characters grow? One thing I learned young—wherever you go, there you are.
Conor, Róisín’s father, is an immature man and alcoholic with a new wife and a baby daughter, also in London. Róisín has a reason to visit now, to be with her sister, Mary. Family dynamics steer the choices that Róisín makes. The narrative grows outward, to the Irish diaspora in London, and sometimes inward again, almost claustrophobic. The prose is spot-on and restrained, a lot the reader can suss in the silent spaces. All characters have blind spots, some will leave you in pieces.
It’s a moving portrait of a complex and highly developed cast, foremost about Róisín and Red and the community that surrounds them. It unspools with delicacy-- but raw, too, a bittersweet finale-- no promises, and a twist of hope.
Thank you to Riverhead for sending me a copy for early review. I'm still waiting to exhale!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
4.5 rounded to 5 stars
Trespasses is a favorite book of mine. I just love reading books by Irish authors.
This book transports you to Ireland and London from 1982 to 2007. It is a beautiful story of relationships, love, loss and addiction, and decisions that were made. Second guesses that maybe would have changed things.
It is character driven, and written with raw prose that may not be for everyone. An emotional heartbreaking story, with an unexpected ending that I just loved.
Roisin McCaffrey is a newcomer to Kildare as she recently moved from Northern Ireland. She doesn’t have many friends and agrees to deliver letters from Tina Doyle, to her boyfriend Redmond Camelin.
Roisin and Red become friends, but drift apart when Red’s father banishes him from his home.
He leaves Ireland for London.
They reconnect again after Roisin visits her estranged father in London
She finds Red living in a squat house in London under deplorable conditions. She finds a different Red that she has known in the.past. He is a troubled soul and their lives disconnect again.
They lose touch for many years and Roisin goes on a quest to find him.
This is an emotional read that you will not soon forget.
Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for this advanced readers copy.
Trespasses is a favorite book of mine. I just love reading books by Irish authors.
This book transports you to Ireland and London from 1982 to 2007. It is a beautiful story of relationships, love, loss and addiction, and decisions that were made. Second guesses that maybe would have changed things.
It is character driven, and written with raw prose that may not be for everyone. An emotional heartbreaking story, with an unexpected ending that I just loved.
Roisin McCaffrey is a newcomer to Kildare as she recently moved from Northern Ireland. She doesn’t have many friends and agrees to deliver letters from Tina Doyle, to her boyfriend Redmond Camelin.
Roisin and Red become friends, but drift apart when Red’s father banishes him from his home.
He leaves Ireland for London.
They reconnect again after Roisin visits her estranged father in London
She finds Red living in a squat house in London under deplorable conditions. She finds a different Red that she has known in the.past. He is a troubled soul and their lives disconnect again.
They lose touch for many years and Roisin goes on a quest to find him.
This is an emotional read that you will not soon forget.
Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for this advanced readers copy.
March 23, 2026
ugh yes louise kennedy has done it again ⭐️
July 27, 2026
I feel like I’ve been shot nine times (compliment)
September 9, 2026
A beautiful, sad and heartbreaking story of friendship, love and trauma that feels very authentic. The storytelling totally absorbed me and I loved the Irishness of this novel; the language, the swearing, the sense of identity. Highly recommended!
TmThank you Bloomsbury and Netgalley UK for the ARC.
TmThank you Bloomsbury and Netgalley UK for the ARC.
June 8, 2026
Amazing amazing amazing
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Northern Irish born, Irish based author Louise Kennedy’s debut novel “Trespasses” was featured on the 2022 version of the always prize-prescient Observer Best 10 Debut Novelist feature and went on to be: shortlisted for the inaugural 2022 Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the 2023 Women’s Prize, while winning the 2022 Irish Book of the year, the 2023 British Book Award for Debut Fiction (a prize which rewards sales success and campaign alongside literary merit) and the 2023 McKitterick Prize (for best debut novel for an author over 40).
Set in 1975 Northern Ireland, its main protagonist is a mid-20s primary school teacher from a lower-middle class Catholic family who falls for a much older, married, Protestant barrister with outspoken views on Civil Rights; the novel capturing brilliantly a bleak portrait of a particular place and time in history in what was a gritty and uncompromising read.
This her second novel’s starting point is actually a character from her a story “Belladonna” in her short story collection “The End of the World is a Cul de Sac” – Róisín who when we first encounter her in 1982 as a teenager has already moved moved with her Catholic family South (her father still reaping the aftermath of his brief service in the RUC having already left the family home) and is something of an outcast for her accent and for the fellow Catholics aversion to the Troubles (much of this detail is part autobiographical – Kennedy too having left the North with her family aged 12 in 1979 – although more due to attacks on the family bar).
Initially due to a role as a subservient messenger for love girls from the alpha-girl, she spends time with Red – from a well off middle-class family, but notorious for his behaviour and as Red is increasingly estranged from his own family Roisin’s home (complete with a middle aged and old fashioned teacher her mother is dating to her horror) becomes more of his home – before a brush with the law exiles Red to London.
There in late 1984 – estranged from her own family by first her father’s new baby and then her mother’s attempts to annul the marriage (effectively making Róisín redundant) she joins him in his squat – where she realises he is a small time soft drug dealer.
And from there the novel plays out with other characters becoming more crucial – not least Barry, squat mate of Red, brother to Róisín’s schooldays bête noire and eventually Róisín’s lover; and her father’s new partner (and mother to Róisín’s step-sister) Lynne.
At one stage the Red/ Róisín interaction – a will they/won’t they thing between Irish friends from different social classes but whose relative status of privilege changes over time seemed like the novel might be a kind of Sally Rooney novel (but with the action moved from Trinity to London), but far from it.
In fact this is as gritty and uncompromising as Kennedy’s debut as increasingly Red’s drug problems (it soon becomes clear he is a user as well as a dealer, and the drugs quickly move from soft to hard) and her father’s struggle with alcohol and self-esteem become dominant alongside a fairly grim picture of life in London (where Kennedy too lived for much of the 1980s).
And things get darker as the reasons behind her father’s behaviour and more so the reason for Red’s addiction and for his breach with his family become the dominant themes.
And this culminates in a memorably difficult encounter between Róisín and Red at Paddington station in 1989, followed by her looking for him in 2007 and an impressively un-neat ending.
Overall like her debut this felt a little too grim for my tastes and here, unlike her debut, I struggled to really get a feel for the characters and their stories – but that debut won the author many fans as well as prize nominations and I expect the same here .
My thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC via NetGalley
Set in 1975 Northern Ireland, its main protagonist is a mid-20s primary school teacher from a lower-middle class Catholic family who falls for a much older, married, Protestant barrister with outspoken views on Civil Rights; the novel capturing brilliantly a bleak portrait of a particular place and time in history in what was a gritty and uncompromising read.
This her second novel’s starting point is actually a character from her a story “Belladonna” in her short story collection “The End of the World is a Cul de Sac” – Róisín who when we first encounter her in 1982 as a teenager has already moved moved with her Catholic family South (her father still reaping the aftermath of his brief service in the RUC having already left the family home) and is something of an outcast for her accent and for the fellow Catholics aversion to the Troubles (much of this detail is part autobiographical – Kennedy too having left the North with her family aged 12 in 1979 – although more due to attacks on the family bar).
Initially due to a role as a subservient messenger for love girls from the alpha-girl, she spends time with Red – from a well off middle-class family, but notorious for his behaviour and as Red is increasingly estranged from his own family Roisin’s home (complete with a middle aged and old fashioned teacher her mother is dating to her horror) becomes more of his home – before a brush with the law exiles Red to London.
There in late 1984 – estranged from her own family by first her father’s new baby and then her mother’s attempts to annul the marriage (effectively making Róisín redundant) she joins him in his squat – where she realises he is a small time soft drug dealer.
And from there the novel plays out with other characters becoming more crucial – not least Barry, squat mate of Red, brother to Róisín’s schooldays bête noire and eventually Róisín’s lover; and her father’s new partner (and mother to Róisín’s step-sister) Lynne.
At one stage the Red/ Róisín interaction – a will they/won’t they thing between Irish friends from different social classes but whose relative status of privilege changes over time seemed like the novel might be a kind of Sally Rooney novel (but with the action moved from Trinity to London), but far from it.
In fact this is as gritty and uncompromising as Kennedy’s debut as increasingly Red’s drug problems (it soon becomes clear he is a user as well as a dealer, and the drugs quickly move from soft to hard) and her father’s struggle with alcohol and self-esteem become dominant alongside a fairly grim picture of life in London (where Kennedy too lived for much of the 1980s).
And things get darker as the reasons behind her father’s behaviour and more so the reason for Red’s addiction and for his breach with his family become the dominant themes.
And this culminates in a memorably difficult encounter between Róisín and Red at Paddington station in 1989, followed by her looking for him in 2007 and an impressively un-neat ending.
Overall like her debut this felt a little too grim for my tastes and here, unlike her debut, I struggled to really get a feel for the characters and their stories – but that debut won the author many fans as well as prize nominations and I expect the same here .
My thanks to Bloomsbury for an ARC via NetGalley
Read
August 14, 2026One chapter into Stations and I was already completely smitten.
After loving Trespasses, I went into Louise Kennedy’s second novel with very high expectations, and thankfully they were more than met. Kennedy has such a distinctive way of writing about people: spare, unsentimental and incredibly observant, yet somehow still full of warmth. She can create an entire emotional world with just a few carefully chosen details.
Stations begins in 1980s Ireland, where Róisín and Red form an unlikely friendship as teenagers. Róisín is the sensible, good-girl type, struggling in her own way with school and a complicated family life, while Red already carries the reputation of being trouble. Their friendship begins almost by accident, but it quickly becomes clear that they understand something in one another that other people do not.
From there, the novel moves between Ireland and London, following the pair through different stages of their lives and eventually returning to them many years later. What Kennedy does so well is show how decisions made when we are very young, often without fully understanding their consequences, can reverberate through decades.
There is something incredibly tangible about her writing. At times I genuinely felt as though I were sitting beside Róisín and Red by the river, standing in a dingy London squat, or watching from a railway platform as one life moved further away from another. Kennedy captures not only place but atmosphere: 1980s Ireland, the rough edges of London in the 80s and 90s, family homes, pubs, streets and all the small, ordinary spaces where life quietly changes direction.
I also really appreciated the slight vagueness that sometimes surrounds events. Life rarely makes perfect sense while we are living it, and Kennedy does not over-explain her characters or force every experience into a neat conclusion. People make bad decisions, fail each other, love one another imperfectly and sometimes simply disappear. That messiness makes the novel feel all the more truthful.
There are difficult themes here, including addiction, alcoholism, abuse, loneliness and grief, and watching Red repeatedly drift beyond Róisín’s reach is heartbreaking. Yet I would not describe Stations as bleak. There is humour, tenderness and an enormous amount of love throughout, even when that love is unable to fix what is broken.
Róisín and Red are both wonderfully drawn characters. I spent much of the novel wanting to reach into the pages and give the pair of them a hug. Their relationship is complicated, sometimes frustrating and often painful, but that is exactly what makes it so compelling. Kennedy understands that some of the most important relationships in our lives are not easily labelled. Some people pass through briefly, some remain physically present, and others stay threaded through us long after they are gone.
The title feels increasingly poignant as the novel unfolds. These different places, moments and stages of life become stations in themselves, points at which people meet, separate, wait, move on or occasionally find their way back to one another.
This is a beautifully written, quietly devastating novel about friendship, love, family and the long shadow of the choices we make when we are young. It is gritty and unvarnished without ever losing its humanity.
I could already see Stations translating wonderfully to the screen while I was reading, and I would be very surprised if it does not become every bit as widely discussed as Trespasses.
Irish literature fans will not be disappointed. Louise Kennedy has done it again.
Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions my own.
After loving Trespasses, I went into Louise Kennedy’s second novel with very high expectations, and thankfully they were more than met. Kennedy has such a distinctive way of writing about people: spare, unsentimental and incredibly observant, yet somehow still full of warmth. She can create an entire emotional world with just a few carefully chosen details.
Stations begins in 1980s Ireland, where Róisín and Red form an unlikely friendship as teenagers. Róisín is the sensible, good-girl type, struggling in her own way with school and a complicated family life, while Red already carries the reputation of being trouble. Their friendship begins almost by accident, but it quickly becomes clear that they understand something in one another that other people do not.
From there, the novel moves between Ireland and London, following the pair through different stages of their lives and eventually returning to them many years later. What Kennedy does so well is show how decisions made when we are very young, often without fully understanding their consequences, can reverberate through decades.
There is something incredibly tangible about her writing. At times I genuinely felt as though I were sitting beside Róisín and Red by the river, standing in a dingy London squat, or watching from a railway platform as one life moved further away from another. Kennedy captures not only place but atmosphere: 1980s Ireland, the rough edges of London in the 80s and 90s, family homes, pubs, streets and all the small, ordinary spaces where life quietly changes direction.
I also really appreciated the slight vagueness that sometimes surrounds events. Life rarely makes perfect sense while we are living it, and Kennedy does not over-explain her characters or force every experience into a neat conclusion. People make bad decisions, fail each other, love one another imperfectly and sometimes simply disappear. That messiness makes the novel feel all the more truthful.
There are difficult themes here, including addiction, alcoholism, abuse, loneliness and grief, and watching Red repeatedly drift beyond Róisín’s reach is heartbreaking. Yet I would not describe Stations as bleak. There is humour, tenderness and an enormous amount of love throughout, even when that love is unable to fix what is broken.
Róisín and Red are both wonderfully drawn characters. I spent much of the novel wanting to reach into the pages and give the pair of them a hug. Their relationship is complicated, sometimes frustrating and often painful, but that is exactly what makes it so compelling. Kennedy understands that some of the most important relationships in our lives are not easily labelled. Some people pass through briefly, some remain physically present, and others stay threaded through us long after they are gone.
The title feels increasingly poignant as the novel unfolds. These different places, moments and stages of life become stations in themselves, points at which people meet, separate, wait, move on or occasionally find their way back to one another.
This is a beautifully written, quietly devastating novel about friendship, love, family and the long shadow of the choices we make when we are young. It is gritty and unvarnished without ever losing its humanity.
I could already see Stations translating wonderfully to the screen while I was reading, and I would be very surprised if it does not become every bit as widely discussed as Trespasses.
Irish literature fans will not be disappointed. Louise Kennedy has done it again.
Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy. All opinions my own.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
edit: this feels a pretty fair review to me, and i have specified where i received the advance copy from. curious that goodreads continues to delete my rating!
i was tempted to give this three, at first, but i think that was partly my affection for louise kennedy, whose previous novel, trespasses, i unexpectedly loved. but really there was so much wrong with this, i can't write the review i'm about to write and justify a three. from start to finish, i was utterly unconvinced by this.
i am ready to move past this kind of fiction (and i am ready for publishers to do the same). i'm allowed to say that because ive read every single incarnation of this book, this particular brand of working-class contemporary litfic. ive read juno loves, ive read true love by paddy crewe, ive read only here, only now, ive read everything by douglas stuart. i have been the target audience for this stuff, ive been sat at the end of the conveyer belt with my mouth wide open. i know it so well i knew every single beat of this from its initial pages, and at no point did it diverge. . even if this was the best iteration of this book i had read, id be tired of it. it was nowhere near the best. i love that working-class stories are being published but its starting to feel a bit icky, and a bit twee, that its the same story thats allowed to be told. im ready to start seeing some more innovation in this subgenre.
this just reeked of a sophomore novel that couldn't find a point to its existence beyond the need to follow-up a brilliant and commercially-successful debut. i felt like i could see the contract hovering beneath the text like i was reading a palimpsest. it said nothing, achieved nothing; i was so unconvinced by its long cast of cliched characters, i was so put off by a protagonist who wasn't interesting, underwent no arc, was still behaving like a fourteen year old in that third act that dragged on for far too long. everyone in this book who you are meant to dislike is written with so little generosity that it cannot be misunderstood what kennedy needs you to think about these characters; no one is allowed to surprise you, or be nuanced, theres a set of evil people, theres a set of posh people who are evil by virtue of their poshness and theres a set of hardscrabble kids we're supposed to root for who just failed to stir anything in me. i have a particular resistant to liking characters it feels the author is insisting too hard that i like.
at one point, one of the characters says, "what does that make me, a whingeing trauma junkie?". that is all any of these characters are, that is all kennedy allows them to be. its a long plod of ever more sensational hardships (sensational not because theyre unrealistic, because people dont face these things or have lives like this, but because kennedy reduces their lives entirely to these cliched sufferings) and people talking the way no one has ever talked, the epidemic of therapy speak dialogue reaching even into upmarket high-falutin prize-winning fiction. for a novel that hinges on missed moments, miscommunications, repression, these characters cannot stop pouring their hearts out to each other, every moment is mined for sentimentality until theres nothing left. it just felt so horribly TWEE.
i was really anticipating this, hence why i begged for a proof. kennedy is a fantastic writer and i believe she will write more fantastic books, but this wasnt one; it was an unremarkable contribution to a tired, predictable, extremely specific niche of working-class fiction that i think its high time we all move on from. there are so many more stories to tell!!! we have so much more to offer than this!!!
i was tempted to give this three, at first, but i think that was partly my affection for louise kennedy, whose previous novel, trespasses, i unexpectedly loved. but really there was so much wrong with this, i can't write the review i'm about to write and justify a three. from start to finish, i was utterly unconvinced by this.
i am ready to move past this kind of fiction (and i am ready for publishers to do the same). i'm allowed to say that because ive read every single incarnation of this book, this particular brand of working-class contemporary litfic. ive read juno loves, ive read true love by paddy crewe, ive read only here, only now, ive read everything by douglas stuart. i have been the target audience for this stuff, ive been sat at the end of the conveyer belt with my mouth wide open. i know it so well i knew every single beat of this from its initial pages, and at no point did it diverge. . even if this was the best iteration of this book i had read, id be tired of it. it was nowhere near the best. i love that working-class stories are being published but its starting to feel a bit icky, and a bit twee, that its the same story thats allowed to be told. im ready to start seeing some more innovation in this subgenre.
this just reeked of a sophomore novel that couldn't find a point to its existence beyond the need to follow-up a brilliant and commercially-successful debut. i felt like i could see the contract hovering beneath the text like i was reading a palimpsest. it said nothing, achieved nothing; i was so unconvinced by its long cast of cliched characters, i was so put off by a protagonist who wasn't interesting, underwent no arc, was still behaving like a fourteen year old in that third act that dragged on for far too long. everyone in this book who you are meant to dislike is written with so little generosity that it cannot be misunderstood what kennedy needs you to think about these characters; no one is allowed to surprise you, or be nuanced, theres a set of evil people, theres a set of posh people who are evil by virtue of their poshness and theres a set of hardscrabble kids we're supposed to root for who just failed to stir anything in me. i have a particular resistant to liking characters it feels the author is insisting too hard that i like.
at one point, one of the characters says, "what does that make me, a whingeing trauma junkie?". that is all any of these characters are, that is all kennedy allows them to be. its a long plod of ever more sensational hardships (sensational not because theyre unrealistic, because people dont face these things or have lives like this, but because kennedy reduces their lives entirely to these cliched sufferings) and people talking the way no one has ever talked, the epidemic of therapy speak dialogue reaching even into upmarket high-falutin prize-winning fiction. for a novel that hinges on missed moments, miscommunications, repression, these characters cannot stop pouring their hearts out to each other, every moment is mined for sentimentality until theres nothing left. it just felt so horribly TWEE.
i was really anticipating this, hence why i begged for a proof. kennedy is a fantastic writer and i believe she will write more fantastic books, but this wasnt one; it was an unremarkable contribution to a tired, predictable, extremely specific niche of working-class fiction that i think its high time we all move on from. there are so many more stories to tell!!! we have so much more to offer than this!!!
September 16, 2026
On GOD nobody writes heartbreak like the Irish. Sometimes you discover too late that the way you loved someone was never how they needed to be loved, and the only thing you can do is hope against hope they’ve found it in someone or something else. There’s 10000 different times you want to grab Roisin or Red’s face and scream into it but you know they’re just going to make the same mistakes anyways. Big if you want to microdose the feeling of reading Normal People for the first time again.
April 4, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read the arc for this book.
The story follows the characters of Róison and Red who become friends in their childhood and evolves over time.
The story focuses on the obstacles and unexpected paths life takes you on. The writing and description is very well done. However there was quite a few times I felt lost in the story with the time jumps and the shift from scene to scene and following along with the plot.
One thing I appreciated as an interesting choice was how the book didn’t follow in any route I could have expected, especially the ending which left it up for interpretation.
It tells the story of how friendships come and go and the people who come back into your life after years apart.
The main themes of the book are friendship, love, life choices, coming of age and loyalty.
Spoiler warning !!!! :
As much as the ending being left open for interpretation is interesting I would have enjoyed some form of closure on what happened in terms of Ró searching for Red and what happened to him.
The story follows the characters of Róison and Red who become friends in their childhood and evolves over time.
The story focuses on the obstacles and unexpected paths life takes you on. The writing and description is very well done. However there was quite a few times I felt lost in the story with the time jumps and the shift from scene to scene and following along with the plot.
One thing I appreciated as an interesting choice was how the book didn’t follow in any route I could have expected, especially the ending which left it up for interpretation.
It tells the story of how friendships come and go and the people who come back into your life after years apart.
The main themes of the book are friendship, love, life choices, coming of age and loyalty.
Spoiler warning !!!! :
As much as the ending being left open for interpretation is interesting I would have enjoyed some form of closure on what happened in terms of Ró searching for Red and what happened to him.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
When I first read Kennedy’s much-lauded debut novel, Trespasses, in 2023, it became an all-time favorite. One of those books you just keep thinking about, as the months and years go by. It’s hard not to compare Stations to its predecessor. While Kennedy isn’t retreading the same ground, there are themes, stylistic elements, and character beats that rhyme. There’s the same “contaminated intimacy”: this time, the relationship is doomed not by sectarian violence, but by addiction. There’s the same nuanced exploration of shame: how it feels to “betray” your country, family, and self ("betray" in scare-quotes because a lot of the dramatic tension comes from the disparity between how the narrator feels about herself and how the audience perceives her actions).
Overall, I enjoyed this quite a bit. Well, “enjoyed” isn’t the right word… Stations is a grim tale, featuring prickly characters, with no easy answers or catharsis on offer for readers. Róisín in particular is a psychologically static character throughout. As the novel goes on, the years pass, and we see everyone around her evolve, sometimes dramatically -- several supporting characters are almost unrecognizable from their earlier iterations when we meet them again later. But even as Róisín’s circumstances change, she remains stuck in the same loop of self-hatred and guilt we witnessed in her adolescence. I found that choice quite interesting and worth exploring, even if it makes the ending feel unresolved or unsatisfying.
Overall, I enjoyed this quite a bit. Well, “enjoyed” isn’t the right word… Stations is a grim tale, featuring prickly characters, with no easy answers or catharsis on offer for readers. Róisín in particular is a psychologically static character throughout. As the novel goes on, the years pass, and we see everyone around her evolve, sometimes dramatically -- several supporting characters are almost unrecognizable from their earlier iterations when we meet them again later. But even as Róisín’s circumstances change, she remains stuck in the same loop of self-hatred and guilt we witnessed in her adolescence. I found that choice quite interesting and worth exploring, even if it makes the ending feel unresolved or unsatisfying.
July 27, 2026
I was lucky enough to get a proof copy of this book and I’m glad I was able to read it early. It was so moving throughout the book as we follow Ró & Reds story and it pulled at my heartstrings for sure.
4.5⭐️
4.5⭐️
June 4, 2026
Louise Kennedy up there with one of my new fave writers. Devastating and real and so fucking SAD!
August 6, 2026
Louise Kennedy when i catch you….. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ENDING…… 4.5. tears down my face.
August 24, 2026
ARC thanks to Edelweiss plus
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for a review copy of this book. A beautifully written book, crafted to create a feeling of a story unfolding seamlessly in front of the reader, easy yet so heartbreakingly real. A young Irish woman, Rósín strives through her life to make sense of her past and her relationship to the one person who dominated it from her teens onward, if only in her mind and her sense of self. This is a story that lingers on in the mind long after the book is finished. It’s haunting, poignant and tragic in some ways but ultimately provides a deep appreciation of what some people will do for the ones they love, even if they don’t love themselves. I found this book deeply moving, just like Kennedy’s prior book, Trespasses. Kennedy has a gift of weaving a narrative that is multi layered and thought provoking while at the same time so compelling, the story just steals the reader’s attention until it reaches its end.
It is the 1980s in Ireland. The first time Rósín met Red she was acting as a go-between for a mean girl, Tina from her school because Red was already too much of a notorious black sheep for any father to approve of. Rósín’s own father had long since made off to London initially for a job, but never to return, after the family had moved from the North because his stint with the RUC hadn’t worked out. In Red though, Rósín feels she’s met a friend, a friend who might be a kindred spirit, a person with whom she feels a soul deep connection that for her is romantic. So when Red turns up on her doorstep and asks to stay for a few days, she is delighted and her mother, charmed by his personality and manners, is too. Rósín feels their connection deepen and knows it’s only a matter of time before they will become a couple. Until her world is shattered and Red’s father has him banished from the town and Red takes off for London. The loss and devastation feels at his departure makes Rósín feel increasingly isolated, and when circumstances take her to London and eventually broken hearted to his door at a squat in a posh area of London she finds a Red that she’s not sure she recognises. In the weeks that turn into months she battles with herself and the deteriorating situation around her to understand what has changed and why. This desperation to understand fully all the situation and herself as well as Red haunts her for years and drives many of the decisions she makes.
The understanding and themes of the book are so subtly crafted and laid out in the book buried deep as the book allows us slowly to come to understand Red and the self destructive behaviours that both main characters show and also to understand what a beautiful person Red was underneath it all. The book is tragically Irish in its rendering and background and beautifully written in that manner to, joining ranks with some of the top Irish writers, I feel. This book will definitely be one of my top reads for the year.
It is the 1980s in Ireland. The first time Rósín met Red she was acting as a go-between for a mean girl, Tina from her school because Red was already too much of a notorious black sheep for any father to approve of. Rósín’s own father had long since made off to London initially for a job, but never to return, after the family had moved from the North because his stint with the RUC hadn’t worked out. In Red though, Rósín feels she’s met a friend, a friend who might be a kindred spirit, a person with whom she feels a soul deep connection that for her is romantic. So when Red turns up on her doorstep and asks to stay for a few days, she is delighted and her mother, charmed by his personality and manners, is too. Rósín feels their connection deepen and knows it’s only a matter of time before they will become a couple. Until her world is shattered and Red’s father has him banished from the town and Red takes off for London. The loss and devastation feels at his departure makes Rósín feel increasingly isolated, and when circumstances take her to London and eventually broken hearted to his door at a squat in a posh area of London she finds a Red that she’s not sure she recognises. In the weeks that turn into months she battles with herself and the deteriorating situation around her to understand what has changed and why. This desperation to understand fully all the situation and herself as well as Red haunts her for years and drives many of the decisions she makes.
The understanding and themes of the book are so subtly crafted and laid out in the book buried deep as the book allows us slowly to come to understand Red and the self destructive behaviours that both main characters show and also to understand what a beautiful person Red was underneath it all. The book is tragically Irish in its rendering and background and beautifully written in that manner to, joining ranks with some of the top Irish writers, I feel. This book will definitely be one of my top reads for the year.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I've had a particularly interesting reading experience with this novel. While I devoured it in two days, I only understood how deeply it affected me after finishing it. In it, we're following Róisín from the time she's a misunderstood teenager in the '80s, until she somehow settles down in her forties. It's a long journey through complicated relationships, family dramas, and the search for one's place in the world. While she struggles to make sense of her life and to choose the right path for herself, she finds comfort in her friendship with Red, a boy from her hometown who later immigrates to London due to a difficult family situation. The novel focuses a lot on this relationship, which is deeply meaningful for both characters, even if it remains platonic until the very end. It is a heart-wrenching story about two people who cannot save each other, but who will mark each other's lives forever.
The novel is written in a deliberately blunt style of narration that I had to get used to at the very beginning. Kennedy doesn't overexplain her characters, nor their emotions or behaviour. She lets them do as they please, and as a reader, we're forced to accept them as they are, even if we don't have enough elements to truly understand them. The events of the story are chronological, but there are a lot of big time jumps, and therefore some time periods are never brought to light. It's something that disturbed me a little bit while reading, but I do understand it in retrospect - that's exactly how we remember our lives. Moreover, the novel is deeply rooted in a certain period of time (mostly the '80s and '90s) and place. The characters are unapologetically Irish, and while it adds some authenticity, it can complicate the reading experience for some readers due to various references or uses of language.
In the end, I have to admit that this novel doesn't exactly compare to the author's previous one (I absolutely adored Trespasses). However, it is its own work of fiction, and it's an interesting one at that. It made me feel a lot of emotions, and the ending left me heartbroken. Personally, I would have loved to delve deeper into the relationship between Róisín and Red, that's the main plot point that left me unsatisfied - I simply wanted more from it. Still, I can't wait for it to be published, since I would love to discuss it with other readers!
Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for the ARC of this novel.
The novel is written in a deliberately blunt style of narration that I had to get used to at the very beginning. Kennedy doesn't overexplain her characters, nor their emotions or behaviour. She lets them do as they please, and as a reader, we're forced to accept them as they are, even if we don't have enough elements to truly understand them. The events of the story are chronological, but there are a lot of big time jumps, and therefore some time periods are never brought to light. It's something that disturbed me a little bit while reading, but I do understand it in retrospect - that's exactly how we remember our lives. Moreover, the novel is deeply rooted in a certain period of time (mostly the '80s and '90s) and place. The characters are unapologetically Irish, and while it adds some authenticity, it can complicate the reading experience for some readers due to various references or uses of language.
In the end, I have to admit that this novel doesn't exactly compare to the author's previous one (I absolutely adored Trespasses). However, it is its own work of fiction, and it's an interesting one at that. It made me feel a lot of emotions, and the ending left me heartbroken. Personally, I would have loved to delve deeper into the relationship between Róisín and Red, that's the main plot point that left me unsatisfied - I simply wanted more from it. Still, I can't wait for it to be published, since I would love to discuss it with other readers!
Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for the ARC of this novel.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Getting deeply intertwined with someone before you’ve even developed a personality is so dangerous, and Stations clocks it perfectly.
Roisin and Red met as teenagers in 1980s Ireland and immediately locked in their “we are codependent for life” lore. Red fumbled so hard he had to flee to London just to become a ghost and hard-reset his life. Roisin eventually follows, but changing your location doesn’t delete your character history and packing up your life doesn’t mean you actually escaped the plot.
That specific part of Stations really hit different. It literally made me sick to my stomach that fake-out “fresh start” era. You can change postcodes and cosplay as new people, but the history, the class disparity, the shame always follows. You cannot escape yourself.
Kennedy really drags Roisin and Red’s choices; she doesn’t romanticise them. I respect how real she keeps it. She really says loving someone will NOT fix them. Sometimes “love” is just handcuffs keeping you stuck in a version of yourself you should’ve outgrown.
Her portrayal of the Irish community in London was a masterclass in writing diaspora trauma. It broke my heart. She captured that displacement perfectly. There is a distinct, heavy sadness in people who leave home chasing a new life, only to end up permanently suspended between two places. They can’t go back to who they used to be, but they never fully belong where they landed either. They are just culturally stranded. It’s a specific kind of grief I recognise firsthand in the older generations of my own family, which made the book hit entirely too close to home.
No melodrama allowed, Kennedy’s writing is dialled back, and she completely trusts the reader to fill in the blanks and silent spaces. The result is messy, agonising, and deeply human. This is a soul-shattering book about first love and exile. It really forces you to face the horrible truth that you can leave a place behind, but the trauma is still staying in your head rent-free.
Leaving gave them distance. It didn’t give them freedom.
Thank you @NetGalley @Bloomsbury for the advance copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
This one is officially living rent-free in my mind permanently.
Roisin and Red met as teenagers in 1980s Ireland and immediately locked in their “we are codependent for life” lore. Red fumbled so hard he had to flee to London just to become a ghost and hard-reset his life. Roisin eventually follows, but changing your location doesn’t delete your character history and packing up your life doesn’t mean you actually escaped the plot.
That specific part of Stations really hit different. It literally made me sick to my stomach that fake-out “fresh start” era. You can change postcodes and cosplay as new people, but the history, the class disparity, the shame always follows. You cannot escape yourself.
Kennedy really drags Roisin and Red’s choices; she doesn’t romanticise them. I respect how real she keeps it. She really says loving someone will NOT fix them. Sometimes “love” is just handcuffs keeping you stuck in a version of yourself you should’ve outgrown.
Her portrayal of the Irish community in London was a masterclass in writing diaspora trauma. It broke my heart. She captured that displacement perfectly. There is a distinct, heavy sadness in people who leave home chasing a new life, only to end up permanently suspended between two places. They can’t go back to who they used to be, but they never fully belong where they landed either. They are just culturally stranded. It’s a specific kind of grief I recognise firsthand in the older generations of my own family, which made the book hit entirely too close to home.
No melodrama allowed, Kennedy’s writing is dialled back, and she completely trusts the reader to fill in the blanks and silent spaces. The result is messy, agonising, and deeply human. This is a soul-shattering book about first love and exile. It really forces you to face the horrible truth that you can leave a place behind, but the trauma is still staying in your head rent-free.
Leaving gave them distance. It didn’t give them freedom.
Thank you @NetGalley @Bloomsbury for the advance copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
This one is officially living rent-free in my mind permanently.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
3.5☆
i love literary fiction, irish authors, and a story that spans years, so this was right up my alley.
stations begins with ró and red’s initial friendship in a small town in ireland, and follows them to london in the late eighties/early nineties. what shines through is kennedy’s descriptive writing, it never feels like she’s ‘ telling rather than showing’ and i could vividly picture every setting and could sketch the squat from memory.
i liked the direction the story took, and the ending. their were a few reasons i didn’t rate it higher. the first being the central friendship. as it’s the foundation of the novel, i would have liked a stronger sense of their emotional connection, besides circumstance.
*the smallest spoilers below that aren’t really spoilers but i’m being extra cautious as this book isn’t out yet*
secondly - and why i took a while to rate this - is because this book is too ‘irish’. i know that sounds funny, especially considering my first sentence of this review, but it leans so heavily relies into the aesthetics of irishness that it made me think the author was afraid you would forget the characters were irish. examples include; crying about an irish artist’s immigration book, shamrock tattoos, celtic wedding bands (all things i actually like), planning to visit the grave of an irish character in march to leave shamrocks (st patrick’s day - get it?), the phrase, “insanely cool for an irish mammy,” and despite, living in london, seemingly only reading the irish times.
one one hand, it makes sense for irish characters who were living in england during the 80s and 90s, during significant anti-irish sentiment, to latch onto their culture and each other, given the political climate. on the other hand, it also seems to be written as “irish for the international audience”. i havn’t read trespasses yet but wonder if the international success of that influenced this approach.
overall, i liked it, i’m excited for when it’s released so i can discuss it with my friends, and as a result, kennedy’s other book is creeping up my tbr.
i love literary fiction, irish authors, and a story that spans years, so this was right up my alley.
stations begins with ró and red’s initial friendship in a small town in ireland, and follows them to london in the late eighties/early nineties. what shines through is kennedy’s descriptive writing, it never feels like she’s ‘ telling rather than showing’ and i could vividly picture every setting and could sketch the squat from memory.
i liked the direction the story took, and the ending. their were a few reasons i didn’t rate it higher. the first being the central friendship. as it’s the foundation of the novel, i would have liked a stronger sense of their emotional connection, besides circumstance.
*the smallest spoilers below that aren’t really spoilers but i’m being extra cautious as this book isn’t out yet*
secondly - and why i took a while to rate this - is because this book is too ‘irish’. i know that sounds funny, especially considering my first sentence of this review, but it leans so heavily relies into the aesthetics of irishness that it made me think the author was afraid you would forget the characters were irish. examples include; crying about an irish artist’s immigration book, shamrock tattoos, celtic wedding bands (all things i actually like), planning to visit the grave of an irish character in march to leave shamrocks (st patrick’s day - get it?), the phrase, “insanely cool for an irish mammy,” and despite, living in london, seemingly only reading the irish times.
one one hand, it makes sense for irish characters who were living in england during the 80s and 90s, during significant anti-irish sentiment, to latch onto their culture and each other, given the political climate. on the other hand, it also seems to be written as “irish for the international audience”. i havn’t read trespasses yet but wonder if the international success of that influenced this approach.
overall, i liked it, i’m excited for when it’s released so i can discuss it with my friends, and as a result, kennedy’s other book is creeping up my tbr.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
"Stations" tells the story of the tumultuous friendship between Róisín and Red, all the way from their high-school days in a small Irish town in the 1980s, up until they both end up in London. A heavy read at times, "Stations" lingers a lot in the almosts of life, in the things we didn't notice or ignored because we weren't ready to face them, in the regrets and the endless questions that come with it. Louise Kennedy's writing is sparse, but creates a very tangible, vivid universe; at times I felt like I was present in all those places that Róisín and Red find themselves in. I also really appreciated the slight vagueness of happenings, which felt real and universal, after all life isn't so easy to make sense of or understand in the moment.
All this being said, I have to say I wish I'd liked this better. Maybe I went into it with different expectations. My main gripe is, I think, the pacing. The first part of this felt more substantial and compelling in a way, while the second and third parts kind of linger and fizzle out a little too much for my taste. The snapshot style we got over the course of some years didn't really help, it held me back from getting a good grasp of these characters, which brings me to my second issue. While I understood Róisín's choices and reactions, I also felt like I was kept at bay in some way from her inner life, which makes little sense as this is told from her perspective. She holds back a lot from the others, but it feels like she holds back a lot as a narrator; there always felt like there was a wall keeping me from really getting a good grasp of her. I understand that this might be more enjoyable to some readers, but not to me.
All this being said, I think I enjoyed the parts with Róisín and her mother, Una, the most - the constant back and forth, the anger and the hurt and confusion and the forgiveness and love. I was also really satisfied with the ending, and thought it was very fitting to the overall story, although I get that it might not be to everyone's taste.
Thank you Bloomsbury and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!
All this being said, I have to say I wish I'd liked this better. Maybe I went into it with different expectations. My main gripe is, I think, the pacing. The first part of this felt more substantial and compelling in a way, while the second and third parts kind of linger and fizzle out a little too much for my taste. The snapshot style we got over the course of some years didn't really help, it held me back from getting a good grasp of these characters, which brings me to my second issue. While I understood Róisín's choices and reactions, I also felt like I was kept at bay in some way from her inner life, which makes little sense as this is told from her perspective. She holds back a lot from the others, but it feels like she holds back a lot as a narrator; there always felt like there was a wall keeping me from really getting a good grasp of her. I understand that this might be more enjoyable to some readers, but not to me.
All this being said, I think I enjoyed the parts with Róisín and her mother, Una, the most - the constant back and forth, the anger and the hurt and confusion and the forgiveness and love. I was also really satisfied with the ending, and thought it was very fitting to the overall story, although I get that it might not be to everyone's taste.
Thank you Bloomsbury and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Review of advance copy received by NetGalley
Thank you to Riverhead and NetGalley for giving me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Stations has an expected publication date of November 3, 2026.
Trespasses was a top read for me in 2023, and I was eagerly anticipating Kennedy's next novel. One of the things I loved about Trespasses was how invested I was in the characters almost instantly, and that is true again here. Kennedy is quite skilled at creating complex and flawed but endearing characters with engrossing interpersonal dynamics. While Trespasses expertly captured the tension and violence of The Troubles, Stations skillfully examines the force of the intense, magnetic bond forged in the trenches of youth and how it changes you forever.
Róisín and Red find each other as teens when she is a letter bearer for a girl Red is seeing. Róisín is without a father or friends and filled with contempt for herself and everyone around her, while Red is charming and charismatic but with a dark home life. Like many wounded youths, they love each other fiercely and they hurt each other deeply. The chapters jump months and then years and then days as their friendship is lost and found and lost again.
The entire novel is from Róisín's point of view. She has a great deal of anger, at her father for leaving her and starting a new life elsewhere, at her mother for staying, at Red for not seeing her the way she sees him. She fumbles through finding her place and relationships, often getting in her own way. Many years later, with wisdom and experience, she starts confronting the impact of addiction as a form of self-medication of severe trauma, both on the people who used and the people who love them.
Kennedy's writing is strong throughout. I felt the electricity of Róisín and Red's bond as teens, the devastation when they lose each other, the immense relief when they would find each other again. Róisín struggles to love anyone because she cannot love herself, and the reader is right there holding her anguish with her. I confess I am left a bit heartbroken, but it was absolutely worth it. I loved this one.
Thank you to Riverhead and NetGalley for giving me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Stations has an expected publication date of November 3, 2026.
Trespasses was a top read for me in 2023, and I was eagerly anticipating Kennedy's next novel. One of the things I loved about Trespasses was how invested I was in the characters almost instantly, and that is true again here. Kennedy is quite skilled at creating complex and flawed but endearing characters with engrossing interpersonal dynamics. While Trespasses expertly captured the tension and violence of The Troubles, Stations skillfully examines the force of the intense, magnetic bond forged in the trenches of youth and how it changes you forever.
Róisín and Red find each other as teens when she is a letter bearer for a girl Red is seeing. Róisín is without a father or friends and filled with contempt for herself and everyone around her, while Red is charming and charismatic but with a dark home life. Like many wounded youths, they love each other fiercely and they hurt each other deeply. The chapters jump months and then years and then days as their friendship is lost and found and lost again.
The entire novel is from Róisín's point of view. She has a great deal of anger, at her father for leaving her and starting a new life elsewhere, at her mother for staying, at Red for not seeing her the way she sees him. She fumbles through finding her place and relationships, often getting in her own way. Many years later, with wisdom and experience, she starts confronting the impact of addiction as a form of self-medication of severe trauma, both on the people who used and the people who love them.
Kennedy's writing is strong throughout. I felt the electricity of Róisín and Red's bond as teens, the devastation when they lose each other, the immense relief when they would find each other again. Róisín struggles to love anyone because she cannot love herself, and the reader is right there holding her anguish with her. I confess I am left a bit heartbroken, but it was absolutely worth it. I loved this one.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
4.5 rounded up
In October 1982 Róisín McCaffrey is a reluctant go-between delivering a letter from her bête noir Tina Doyle to Red (Redmond) Camelin who’s reputation for trouble precedes him. However, Róisín finds him to be intelligent and funny and an unlikely friendship develops. After a brush with the law, Red leaves Ireland to start a new life in England and they drift apart, although there’s some kind of invisible thread that binds them together. As it turns out, he’s always with her even when he’s not.
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy is a favourite book of mine and so I quite simply had to read this and I’m definitely not disappointed! It’s a beautifully written, emotional, character driven novel with a strong sense of time and place, taking the reader from 1982 to 2007, a twenty five year journey of friendship, love, loss and family through many ups and downs and multiple layers in the storytelling. The characterisation is outstanding, especially of Red, Róisín, her sister Mary and Barry/Finbarr but all are portrayed well. Many are complex and complicated and some are damaged, with Red being especially intriguing. He’s a troubled soul, extremely unpredictable, highly intelligent and very well read. His issues take him into many self-destructive places and in the process, he causes pain. Despite his difficulties it’s easy to understand why people are drawn to him and I don’t think I’ll forget him in a hurry.
The end result of all this is sad but also funny especially through the dialogue, it’s heartbreaking and bleak at times, but it feels very true to life. The ending is open ended which feels just right after what has gone before and that’s life sometimes, it’s incomplete.
I love the book for its messy honesty, it’s heartache and for showing characters vulnerability with well placed humour along the way. I hope this is another best seller for the author.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.
In October 1982 Róisín McCaffrey is a reluctant go-between delivering a letter from her bête noir Tina Doyle to Red (Redmond) Camelin who’s reputation for trouble precedes him. However, Róisín finds him to be intelligent and funny and an unlikely friendship develops. After a brush with the law, Red leaves Ireland to start a new life in England and they drift apart, although there’s some kind of invisible thread that binds them together. As it turns out, he’s always with her even when he’s not.
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy is a favourite book of mine and so I quite simply had to read this and I’m definitely not disappointed! It’s a beautifully written, emotional, character driven novel with a strong sense of time and place, taking the reader from 1982 to 2007, a twenty five year journey of friendship, love, loss and family through many ups and downs and multiple layers in the storytelling. The characterisation is outstanding, especially of Red, Róisín, her sister Mary and Barry/Finbarr but all are portrayed well. Many are complex and complicated and some are damaged, with Red being especially intriguing. He’s a troubled soul, extremely unpredictable, highly intelligent and very well read. His issues take him into many self-destructive places and in the process, he causes pain. Despite his difficulties it’s easy to understand why people are drawn to him and I don’t think I’ll forget him in a hurry.
The end result of all this is sad but also funny especially through the dialogue, it’s heartbreaking and bleak at times, but it feels very true to life. The ending is open ended which feels just right after what has gone before and that’s life sometimes, it’s incomplete.
I love the book for its messy honesty, it’s heartache and for showing characters vulnerability with well placed humour along the way. I hope this is another best seller for the author.
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Last night I finished an advanced copy (thank you Riverhead) of “Stations” by Louise Kennedy, and it was SO GOOD, I had to sit with it a while to savor it and to figure out how to review it without giving anything away.
It’s the coming-of-age and loss-of-innocence story of Róisín, a lonely teenager in a village near Dublin in the 1980s. In order to get “in” with the popular girls, she agrees to deliver a love note to enigmatic Red on behalf of mean girl, Tina. With this act, Róisín and Red become kindred spirits and fast friends, but Róisín wants more than friendship from Red.
Red is estranged from his family and at sixteen, he flees to Dublin taking up a life as a squatter and drug dealer. After she graduates from high school, Róisín joins him.
What follows is their stories, together and apart, through the 1980s, and then in Part Three, picks up almost 20 years later in 2007.
Their stories are riveting, shocking, and often heartbreaking. I couldn’t put the book down. Much is eventually revealed about why Red is the way he is, and I realized how true it is that when we are young, we miss (and/or ignore) so much information that is right before our eyes.
There is a wide cast of unforgettable characters to fall in love with, all perfectly rendered, flawed but sympathetic, always human. I agonized over some of their choices wanting to scream “NO!” several times.
Kennedy’s dialogue is pitch-perfect with all the signature dry humor, sarcasm, and Irish fatalism that I love so much from Irish writers writing about Ireland.
As I neared the end I had become so invested that I was in a panic about how it was going to end for both Róisín and Red, but I should have trusted Kennedy, she ends “Stations” perfectly.
I predict “Stations” will be nominated for many book prizes (it’s certainly going on my personal Top Ten List for this year), the November 3rd publication date seems far away so I’m urging my reading friends and book clubs to pre-order this beautiful novel.
It’s the coming-of-age and loss-of-innocence story of Róisín, a lonely teenager in a village near Dublin in the 1980s. In order to get “in” with the popular girls, she agrees to deliver a love note to enigmatic Red on behalf of mean girl, Tina. With this act, Róisín and Red become kindred spirits and fast friends, but Róisín wants more than friendship from Red.
Red is estranged from his family and at sixteen, he flees to Dublin taking up a life as a squatter and drug dealer. After she graduates from high school, Róisín joins him.
What follows is their stories, together and apart, through the 1980s, and then in Part Three, picks up almost 20 years later in 2007.
Their stories are riveting, shocking, and often heartbreaking. I couldn’t put the book down. Much is eventually revealed about why Red is the way he is, and I realized how true it is that when we are young, we miss (and/or ignore) so much information that is right before our eyes.
There is a wide cast of unforgettable characters to fall in love with, all perfectly rendered, flawed but sympathetic, always human. I agonized over some of their choices wanting to scream “NO!” several times.
Kennedy’s dialogue is pitch-perfect with all the signature dry humor, sarcasm, and Irish fatalism that I love so much from Irish writers writing about Ireland.
As I neared the end I had become so invested that I was in a panic about how it was going to end for both Róisín and Red, but I should have trusted Kennedy, she ends “Stations” perfectly.
I predict “Stations” will be nominated for many book prizes (it’s certainly going on my personal Top Ten List for this year), the November 3rd publication date seems far away so I’m urging my reading friends and book clubs to pre-order this beautiful novel.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Disclaimer: Bloomsbury Export in conjunction with Tandem Collective and Netgalley kindly sent me an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
It's 1982 in Kildare, Ireland, and Roisin McCaffrey is the 'go-between' for Tina Doyle and Red Camelin. She delivers letters to Red, even though he doesn't seem that interested in Tina Doyle. In fact, he spends a lot more time talking to Roisin about books and music, and smoking cigarettes by the riverbank.
At a school dance months later, Red drinks too much and ends up being taken home by Roisin and the local policeman. Except when they get close to Red's home, he doesn't want to get out of the car. He begs them not to leave him at the fancy house everyone knew the Camelins lived in. That night, he comes home with Roisin, sleeps on her couch, and becomes a fixture in the humble home she shares with her mother, Una. Roisin's father left them a long time ago, and Una quickly warms to the troubled Red.
In 1984, Roisin has finished high school and catches a train to London to visit her father for Christmas. At the front door, she's greeted by his new young wife, Lynn, and their baby daughter. Instead of being delighted, Roisin can't face any of it and runs off to stay with Red.
Red has been living in London for a few years in a squat with a few roommates. They are all drinking and smoking a lot, and it seems Red has been selling drugs to make ends meet. Since her school days in Ireland, the drugs have gotten stronger, and the squat is a dismal existence. Roisin stays a lot longer than she means to—and falls more in love with Red every day. But Red has fallen in with a crowd that includes a young, wealthy socialite, and so our heroine finds herself falling into the arms of Barry Doyle, the very same brother of Tina Doyle—the reason Roisin was once a 'go-between'. Whilst in London, she makes up with her father, falls in love with her baby sister Mary, and finds that Red is becoming more and more lost to her. Her father's alcoholism causes a great many hardships for Lynn, who struggles to parent Mary on her own.
It's suddenly 1988, and Roisin is working as a filing clerk, has long since left the squat, Red, and Barry Doyle, and is now in a fairly normal relationship with a young man named Guy.
In 1989, Roisin sees Red at a train station in London begging for money.
Twenty years later, Red's mother comes to Roisin and begs to see her son one last time. His father, whom Red famously hated, is dead, and she is not long for this world either. Roisin hasn't seen Red Camelin since that day at the station, and starts to track down parts of the life she lived during her time in that dirty squat, hoping to catch a glimpse of the boy she once loved. In 2007, even Roisin's sister Mary is a grown-up, and the world is a very different place to the one it was in the 1980s.
Stations is a heartbreaking, achingly beautiful story of life and the transitions we go through. The loss and grief of addiction and abuse are very present in this novel, and even though Roisin is the main character, and it's through her eyes that we see the world, Red's influence in her life is never far away from the main stage. This is a story about friendships, connections, and relationships that we have in our lives that are sometimes fleeting, and sometimes forever. Both have the power to have the same impact, and it is these places (or stations) that we find ourselves in, briefly, that can be the most impactful of all.
It's 1982 in Kildare, Ireland, and Roisin McCaffrey is the 'go-between' for Tina Doyle and Red Camelin. She delivers letters to Red, even though he doesn't seem that interested in Tina Doyle. In fact, he spends a lot more time talking to Roisin about books and music, and smoking cigarettes by the riverbank.
At a school dance months later, Red drinks too much and ends up being taken home by Roisin and the local policeman. Except when they get close to Red's home, he doesn't want to get out of the car. He begs them not to leave him at the fancy house everyone knew the Camelins lived in. That night, he comes home with Roisin, sleeps on her couch, and becomes a fixture in the humble home she shares with her mother, Una. Roisin's father left them a long time ago, and Una quickly warms to the troubled Red.
In 1984, Roisin has finished high school and catches a train to London to visit her father for Christmas. At the front door, she's greeted by his new young wife, Lynn, and their baby daughter. Instead of being delighted, Roisin can't face any of it and runs off to stay with Red.
Red has been living in London for a few years in a squat with a few roommates. They are all drinking and smoking a lot, and it seems Red has been selling drugs to make ends meet. Since her school days in Ireland, the drugs have gotten stronger, and the squat is a dismal existence. Roisin stays a lot longer than she means to—and falls more in love with Red every day. But Red has fallen in with a crowd that includes a young, wealthy socialite, and so our heroine finds herself falling into the arms of Barry Doyle, the very same brother of Tina Doyle—the reason Roisin was once a 'go-between'. Whilst in London, she makes up with her father, falls in love with her baby sister Mary, and finds that Red is becoming more and more lost to her. Her father's alcoholism causes a great many hardships for Lynn, who struggles to parent Mary on her own.
It's suddenly 1988, and Roisin is working as a filing clerk, has long since left the squat, Red, and Barry Doyle, and is now in a fairly normal relationship with a young man named Guy.
In 1989, Roisin sees Red at a train station in London begging for money.
Twenty years later, Red's mother comes to Roisin and begs to see her son one last time. His father, whom Red famously hated, is dead, and she is not long for this world either. Roisin hasn't seen Red Camelin since that day at the station, and starts to track down parts of the life she lived during her time in that dirty squat, hoping to catch a glimpse of the boy she once loved. In 2007, even Roisin's sister Mary is a grown-up, and the world is a very different place to the one it was in the 1980s.
Stations is a heartbreaking, achingly beautiful story of life and the transitions we go through. The loss and grief of addiction and abuse are very present in this novel, and even though Roisin is the main character, and it's through her eyes that we see the world, Red's influence in her life is never far away from the main stage. This is a story about friendships, connections, and relationships that we have in our lives that are sometimes fleeting, and sometimes forever. Both have the power to have the same impact, and it is these places (or stations) that we find ourselves in, briefly, that can be the most impactful of all.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This book intrigued me from the beginning. I think I’m at that stage of life where you naturally start reflecting on how you got to where you are and how different life looks from what you once imagined it would. I love books that explore the choices we make when we’re young and the ways they continue to shape us years later, and this book literally explores that. I think it is also important to note that it explores how the choices of others can shape the course of our lives.
My word, I felt like I went through the entire spectrum of emotions while reading this book. Gosh, it made my heart hurt. We start in 1982 with Red and Róisín and journey all the way to 2007, following Róisín’s journey through all those years. And, at times, this was hard to read.
Life in some respects was a lot harder in the 1980s, and it’s something I think we can easily take for granted. The book really made me think about how much things have changed and how the choices available to people can shape the paths their lives take.
The thing that stood out to me most in this book was the exploration of first love. First loves are just one of those things that stay with you forever, whether they leave you with positive or negative memories. There was something so heartbreaking about the way Róisín remained tethered to Red throughout her life. It really highlights how someone can remain a part of your life even when they aren't actually in it.
I don’t want to spoil this book, but the ending… ARRRHHH. I felt like I didn’t get the closure I needed as a reader, and I’m sure that was intentional, but gosh, I wanted more!
This book is messy, it is devastating, and it is just so beautifully written. It made my heart hurt, my eyes water, and I know I’ll be thinking about Red and Róisín for a long time.
Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me a proof copy.
My word, I felt like I went through the entire spectrum of emotions while reading this book. Gosh, it made my heart hurt. We start in 1982 with Red and Róisín and journey all the way to 2007, following Róisín’s journey through all those years. And, at times, this was hard to read.
Life in some respects was a lot harder in the 1980s, and it’s something I think we can easily take for granted. The book really made me think about how much things have changed and how the choices available to people can shape the paths their lives take.
The thing that stood out to me most in this book was the exploration of first love. First loves are just one of those things that stay with you forever, whether they leave you with positive or negative memories. There was something so heartbreaking about the way Róisín remained tethered to Red throughout her life. It really highlights how someone can remain a part of your life even when they aren't actually in it.
I don’t want to spoil this book, but the ending… ARRRHHH. I felt like I didn’t get the closure I needed as a reader, and I’m sure that was intentional, but gosh, I wanted more!
This book is messy, it is devastating, and it is just so beautifully written. It made my heart hurt, my eyes water, and I know I’ll be thinking about Red and Róisín for a long time.
Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me a proof copy.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A gut wrenching depiction of family dysfunction, alcoholism, drug addiction tempered by love and a depth of friendship that clenches the heart. Louise Kennedy has written a story so realistic with characters so real that I woke up this morning thinking about them and anxious to get back to them. I fell in love with Roisin (roh- SHEEN) and Red from the start. In 1982 in a town near Dublin these two teenagers become best friends. Roisin without a friend in the world, saddened by her home situation and Red quietly enduring a trauma that we don’t fully know the severity of until close to the end of the novel . Always there for each other until it’s impossible. Moving back and forth between home and London in the decades between 1982 and 2007 I was brought to places I never knew - house squatting, alcoholism, drug addiction.
The story mostly centers on Roisin’s journey and her family over the years. The family dynamics moved me to tears, both sad and happy ones . However, Red is never out of her mind even during the years they are apart . A lot happens during these twenty five years, and if you want more of the plot, there are several reviews that give those details. The story is emotionally draining to say the least , but there is the possibility of redemption, forgiveness, even though not for all. It’s been a long time since I woke up thinking about characters in a book. A testament to Kennedy’s exceptional writing. As soon as I finished it I bought a copy of her first novel Trespasses.
I received a copy of this from Riverhead through NetGalley.
The story mostly centers on Roisin’s journey and her family over the years. The family dynamics moved me to tears, both sad and happy ones . However, Red is never out of her mind even during the years they are apart . A lot happens during these twenty five years, and if you want more of the plot, there are several reviews that give those details. The story is emotionally draining to say the least , but there is the possibility of redemption, forgiveness, even though not for all. It’s been a long time since I woke up thinking about characters in a book. A testament to Kennedy’s exceptional writing. As soon as I finished it I bought a copy of her first novel Trespasses.
I received a copy of this from Riverhead through NetGalley.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I want to start by saying that I've finished this book and I still don't know how I feel. Am I happy for the FMC? Was that really a HEA? Do I feel satisfied with the ending? I'm genuinely conflicted, and I think that's exactly what makes this such an incredible read.
Stations was an instant 5 star book for me, but one that took me through every possible emotion. As someone born towards the end of the Troubles in the North of Ireland, there was a strange familiarity in each person's childhood story. The trauma surrounding families at the time, whether through religion, social divides, or simply the fear and anxiety of where you lived, felt incredibly authentic and echoed so many of the stories I grew up hearing.
Louise Kennedy's writing is beautiful. She captures both the quiet moments and the heartbreaking ones with such skill that every emotion feels palpable. Red and Róisín's relationship always felt as though it was destined to end in heartbreak, and the ripple effects it had on their families and friends felt painfully real. There were moments when all I wanted was for Róisín to go home and find comfort in her mam.
Louise Kennedy is a fantastic author, and I'll be eagerly waiting to see what she writes next. If you haven't read any of her previous work, I wholeheartedly recommend Trespasses while you wait for the release of Stations.
Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read the ARC of this book
I want to start by saying that I've finished this book and I still don't know how I feel. Am I happy for the FMC? Was that really a HEA? Do I feel satisfied with the ending? I'm genuinely conflicted, and I think that's exactly what makes this such an incredible read.
Stations was an instant 5 star book for me, but one that took me through every possible emotion. As someone born towards the end of the Troubles in the North of Ireland, there was a strange familiarity in each person's childhood story. The trauma surrounding families at the time, whether through religion, social divides, or simply the fear and anxiety of where you lived, felt incredibly authentic and echoed so many of the stories I grew up hearing.
Louise Kennedy's writing is beautiful. She captures both the quiet moments and the heartbreaking ones with such skill that every emotion feels palpable. Red and Róisín's relationship always felt as though it was destined to end in heartbreak, and the ripple effects it had on their families and friends felt painfully real. There were moments when all I wanted was for Róisín to go home and find comfort in her mam.
Louise Kennedy is a fantastic author, and I'll be eagerly waiting to see what she writes next. If you haven't read any of her previous work, I wholeheartedly recommend Trespasses while you wait for the release of Stations.
Thank you so much to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read the ARC of this book
August 28, 2026
Synopsis -Róisín and Red meet as teenagers in their small Irish hometown in 1982. Brilliant, sharp-tongued and born to slip through the cracks, Red’s reputation for trouble precedes him - but Róisín finds herself swept up in his storm, and soon their connection deepens.
When a brush with the law pushes Red into a corner, he escapes their town to start a new life in England. As the years pass, they remain tethered to one another, a fragile thread holding their once fierce friendship together. When Róisín arrives in London, the promise of freedom, of reinvention, and of finding her dear friend calls.
But searching for Red leads Róisín to a truth darker than she could have imagined: when you go looking for someone you may uncover parts of yourself along the way that you’d rather stayed buried. And Red - bright, beautiful Red - might not want to be found at all.
#mythoughts I was desperately waiting for this new release from @louisekennedywriter Kennedy, so I was thrilled to receive an early copy — and I was not disappointed!
This was a gritty, heart-wrenching novel. Rosin is a constantly angry human being, but underneath that anger there is a softness that she often struggles to show. Her relationship with Red weaves its way through the novel, whether they are together or apart.
Childhood friendships with Barry, Tina and others remain important throughout their lives, even when they find themselves living in a London squat. Set in a world of drink, drugs, sex and complicated relationships, this was an utterly unputdownable read.
Louise Kennedy has created characters who feel messy, vulnerable and incredibly real, and I was completely immersed in their world.
When a brush with the law pushes Red into a corner, he escapes their town to start a new life in England. As the years pass, they remain tethered to one another, a fragile thread holding their once fierce friendship together. When Róisín arrives in London, the promise of freedom, of reinvention, and of finding her dear friend calls.
But searching for Red leads Róisín to a truth darker than she could have imagined: when you go looking for someone you may uncover parts of yourself along the way that you’d rather stayed buried. And Red - bright, beautiful Red - might not want to be found at all.
#mythoughts I was desperately waiting for this new release from @louisekennedywriter Kennedy, so I was thrilled to receive an early copy — and I was not disappointed!
This was a gritty, heart-wrenching novel. Rosin is a constantly angry human being, but underneath that anger there is a softness that she often struggles to show. Her relationship with Red weaves its way through the novel, whether they are together or apart.
Childhood friendships with Barry, Tina and others remain important throughout their lives, even when they find themselves living in a London squat. Set in a world of drink, drugs, sex and complicated relationships, this was an utterly unputdownable read.
Louise Kennedy has created characters who feel messy, vulnerable and incredibly real, and I was completely immersed in their world.
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