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Stations
Long after he drifts out of reach, a woman is haunted by the troubled boy who befriended her as an outcast teenager, in this heart-rending novel by the internationally bestselling author of Trespasses.
In 1980s Ireland, Róisín and Red bond as only two precocious and disaffected teenagers can. Soon he is privy to the secret source of her shame and the father who’s abandoned her and her mother to their damp house and never-ending strife. But what does Róisín know about why Red avoids going home to his own posh parents and house—the house he soon flees forever?
When a Christmas visit to her father reveals the devastating truth of his new life in London, Róisín tracks down Red and moves into his Pimlico squat. But the path he is now on is a disturbing one, and gradually they drift apart. And yet the great, never-consummated passion of her youth remains a visitation upon the years that follow. Will Róisín ever stop longing for Red? Will she ever learn to let someone else love her—or learn to love herself?
Stations is a gorgeous, wrenching novel about the terrible—and sometimes redemptive—power with which the past hovers over the present.
In 1980s Ireland, Róisín and Red bond as only two precocious and disaffected teenagers can. Soon he is privy to the secret source of her shame and the father who’s abandoned her and her mother to their damp house and never-ending strife. But what does Róisín know about why Red avoids going home to his own posh parents and house—the house he soon flees forever?
When a Christmas visit to her father reveals the devastating truth of his new life in London, Róisín tracks down Red and moves into his Pimlico squat. But the path he is now on is a disturbing one, and gradually they drift apart. And yet the great, never-consummated passion of her youth remains a visitation upon the years that follow. Will Róisín ever stop longing for Red? Will she ever learn to let someone else love her—or learn to love herself?
Stations is a gorgeous, wrenching novel about the terrible—and sometimes redemptive—power with which the past hovers over the present.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 24, 2026
About the author
Louise Kennedy
5 books934 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 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 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!
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November 3, 2026Stations, a new novel by the Irish writer Louise Kennedy, lays out a friendship that shapes a heart, and tears it.
Red Camelin is the first boy Róisín McCaffrey has ever spoken to. Not that she’s supposed to be speaking to him at all. “Actively unpopular” among her high school peers, Róisín has been commissioned by the hottest girl in class to pass a note to her rakish boyfriend, Red, one of the richest boys in town. It’s a courier task designed to emphasize Róisín’s subservience and sexual irrelevance.
But nobody told Red that.
He asks her for a cigarette and offers to walk her home. Soon, he wants to know her favorite book, song, and movie, and they’re drawing connections between the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” and Joan Didion’s essay about the Manson trial.
Róisín can’t imagine what Red talks about with his girlfriend, “who had failed three subjects — including English.” But she likes the way he sounds: “Ironic, slightly formal. Always with the beginnings of a smile.... She had expected a delinquent, but he was curious, funny. Nice.”
Neither of these kids will ever recover from this moment of happiness.
When Kennedy was about Róisín’s age in the early 1980s, she dreamed of becoming a writer, but, as she once told an interviewer, she decided that writing “was something that magical people did.” And so for decades she worked as a chef until a friend pestered her into joining a writers’ group. Her debut story collection, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac, won the John McGahern Prize, named after one of Ireland’s finest writers. Her first novel, Trespasses, published in 2022 when she was 55, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and made into a TV series starring Lola Petticrew, Tom Cullen and Gillian Anderson. Now, with Stations, she’s confirmed her status as one of those magical people who conjure up stories that compete with our own lives.
Her Róisín is the kind of angry girl you want to assure life will get better, but you fear she’d just roll her eyes and flick a cigarette at your shoes. If you’ve ever had a teenager, or been one, you know this ornery, witty, self-deprecating girl who’s as cuddly as a Gaelic porcupine. And why not — she has a lot to be angry about. The Troubles have....
You can read the rest of this review on Substack:
https://roncharles.substack.com/p/the...
Red Camelin is the first boy Róisín McCaffrey has ever spoken to. Not that she’s supposed to be speaking to him at all. “Actively unpopular” among her high school peers, Róisín has been commissioned by the hottest girl in class to pass a note to her rakish boyfriend, Red, one of the richest boys in town. It’s a courier task designed to emphasize Róisín’s subservience and sexual irrelevance.
But nobody told Red that.
He asks her for a cigarette and offers to walk her home. Soon, he wants to know her favorite book, song, and movie, and they’re drawing connections between the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” and Joan Didion’s essay about the Manson trial.
Róisín can’t imagine what Red talks about with his girlfriend, “who had failed three subjects — including English.” But she likes the way he sounds: “Ironic, slightly formal. Always with the beginnings of a smile.... She had expected a delinquent, but he was curious, funny. Nice.”
Neither of these kids will ever recover from this moment of happiness.
When Kennedy was about Róisín’s age in the early 1980s, she dreamed of becoming a writer, but, as she once told an interviewer, she decided that writing “was something that magical people did.” And so for decades she worked as a chef until a friend pestered her into joining a writers’ group. Her debut story collection, The End of the World Is a Cul de Sac, won the John McGahern Prize, named after one of Ireland’s finest writers. Her first novel, Trespasses, published in 2022 when she was 55, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and made into a TV series starring Lola Petticrew, Tom Cullen and Gillian Anderson. Now, with Stations, she’s confirmed her status as one of those magical people who conjure up stories that compete with our own lives.
Her Róisín is the kind of angry girl you want to assure life will get better, but you fear she’d just roll her eyes and flick a cigarette at your shoes. If you’ve ever had a teenager, or been one, you know this ornery, witty, self-deprecating girl who’s as cuddly as a Gaelic porcupine. And why not — she has a lot to be angry about. The Troubles have....
You can read the rest of this review on Substack:
https://roncharles.substack.com/p/the...
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.
July 27, 2026
I feel like I’ve been shot nine times (compliment)
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Available 11/03
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.
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.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Shortlisted for the 2026 An Post Irish Book Awards - Eason Novel of The Year
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
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
November 4, 2026
So good….I will read absolutely anything Louise Kennedy ever writes.
March 23, 2026
ugh yes louise kennedy has done it again ⭐️
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Louise Kennedy has produced another beautiful but unflinchingly real story with Stations. Not quite a love story but certainly one of enduring friendship. Róisin McCaffrey meets Red (Redmond) Camelin for the first time when she becomes a message carrier for Tina Doyle, whose father does not approve of Red as a boyfriend.
The two immediately bond and the friendship develops as Red's relationship with his violent father and ineffectual mother breaks down. Roisin wishes for so much more but has to settle for friendship when Red leaves Ireland.
Years later they reconnect in London. But Roisin is no closer to pinning Red down. All she can do is be his friend and try to save him from his worst excesses.
Stations is another beautiful but difficult book by Louise Kennedy. She does not sugarcoat anything, seeing no need to provide happy endings which so rarely happen in real life.
Both Roisin and Red are deeply flawed characters but they are both very likeable and it is hard not to root for them even at their most self-destructive. My favourite characters were, however, Mary who doesn't let Roisin get away with her bad behaviour and Barry who tries so hard.
A stunning book that I'd highly recommend. Louise Kennedy hasn't put a sentence wrong yet. I very much look forward to whatrever comes next.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the digital review copy. Very much appreciated.
The two immediately bond and the friendship develops as Red's relationship with his violent father and ineffectual mother breaks down. Roisin wishes for so much more but has to settle for friendship when Red leaves Ireland.
Years later they reconnect in London. But Roisin is no closer to pinning Red down. All she can do is be his friend and try to save him from his worst excesses.
Stations is another beautiful but difficult book by Louise Kennedy. She does not sugarcoat anything, seeing no need to provide happy endings which so rarely happen in real life.
Both Roisin and Red are deeply flawed characters but they are both very likeable and it is hard not to root for them even at their most self-destructive. My favourite characters were, however, Mary who doesn't let Roisin get away with her bad behaviour and Barry who tries so hard.
A stunning book that I'd highly recommend. Louise Kennedy hasn't put a sentence wrong yet. I very much look forward to whatrever comes next.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the digital review copy. Very much appreciated.
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!!!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I've not read anything that hit me like this in a long time.
In full
It's October 1982. Róisín has been asked by a girl she knows (but doesn't like) to give a letter to a boy from their school called Red. Róisín is not that popular and not bothered by him either (although he is seen as attractive). They sit smoking and then start talking about favourite things. He follows her home and they talk a lot more. There's a lot of teen angst as well as some very Irish aspects. She was originally from the north and has only moved to the south quite recently. Red is from the south. For me this felt teen like, funny, Irish and quite convincing.
The book is about Róisín as she grows and the narrative changes as she grows. It's about her family too (& that's complicated). Her relationship with her mother is probably quite normal (ie less than good). Her father is now absent having left to work in England - he is a troubled character. Some people are quite constant over the book while others are transient. Red features in this from time to time and that's complicated too. Both of them leave Ireland for London though not together - there's an inevitability about some things.
Having written that I actually realise this book is simply about life and for many people that can be very complicated. Róisín starts off by hating almost everyone else. Over time she hates herself just as much. I guess that could sound a bit depressing and parts of the book really are quite dark. However other parts are funny, powerful and uplifting. Maybe worth saying that this book does have parts that might affect some people. There's homelessness, drugs, mental health issues, alcohol abuse. Personally I became engaged with this book fairly quickly - for me it has a strange charm and authenticity to it. As time went by I simply tried to avoid putting it down. I really wanted to know how everything worked out.
I rate very few book at 5 star these days however this one really does have something special for me. Róisín's journey from anger and hate of others to the same feelings for herself was just so powerful. Please don't take this as meaning that this book is depressing though. It's dark at times however there is such warmth and humanity at other times. It's maybe 4.5/5 but I'm rounding it up for the tears! I'd read something else by Louise Kennedy without hesitation.
My thanks to the author and the publisher for an advance copy of this book
In full
It's October 1982. Róisín has been asked by a girl she knows (but doesn't like) to give a letter to a boy from their school called Red. Róisín is not that popular and not bothered by him either (although he is seen as attractive). They sit smoking and then start talking about favourite things. He follows her home and they talk a lot more. There's a lot of teen angst as well as some very Irish aspects. She was originally from the north and has only moved to the south quite recently. Red is from the south. For me this felt teen like, funny, Irish and quite convincing.
The book is about Róisín as she grows and the narrative changes as she grows. It's about her family too (& that's complicated). Her relationship with her mother is probably quite normal (ie less than good). Her father is now absent having left to work in England - he is a troubled character. Some people are quite constant over the book while others are transient. Red features in this from time to time and that's complicated too. Both of them leave Ireland for London though not together - there's an inevitability about some things.
Having written that I actually realise this book is simply about life and for many people that can be very complicated. Róisín starts off by hating almost everyone else. Over time she hates herself just as much. I guess that could sound a bit depressing and parts of the book really are quite dark. However other parts are funny, powerful and uplifting. Maybe worth saying that this book does have parts that might affect some people. There's homelessness, drugs, mental health issues, alcohol abuse. Personally I became engaged with this book fairly quickly - for me it has a strange charm and authenticity to it. As time went by I simply tried to avoid putting it down. I really wanted to know how everything worked out.
I rate very few book at 5 star these days however this one really does have something special for me. Róisín's journey from anger and hate of others to the same feelings for herself was just so powerful. Please don't take this as meaning that this book is depressing though. It's dark at times however there is such warmth and humanity at other times. It's maybe 4.5/5 but I'm rounding it up for the tears! I'd read something else by Louise Kennedy without hesitation.
My thanks to the author and the publisher for an advance copy of this book
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.
October 19, 2026
This is a particularly saddening story. There are few happy endings, and it’s a measure of the success of the writing that the reader is drawn into wishing and hoping that things turn out well, or at least better, for Roisin, and Redmond and even Barry (Finbarr).
Roisin Mccaffry is a very attractive character (personality). We don’t get much guidance on her physical looks, and that’s great. Let the reader decide. (I’m not a great fan of the book cover though. A photograph of a beautiful young woman which is bound to influence your mind’s eye imagination.) Roisin has a wicked line in dialogue and sharp banter and she makes an immediate impression on those she meets. Her lustre fades as the story progresses, and this is entirely appropriate as the love of her life, Red descends into a serious drug induced poverty, hunger and homelessness. He’s her soul mate and hence the evisceration of his youthful hopes is bound to affect Roisin.
It’s a beautiful, and hopeful turn when Rosin’s much younger (step) sister, Mary, reaches adulthood. Mary has the same family genes that make her a youthful light in any room.
The sisters differ. A list of life affirming aspirations in a book gifted to Roisin (”I could read the sky”) by Timothy O'Grady, includes the pointer to “perform the manners of meeting and greeting“. Roisin is especially coy and awkward in this respect.
Poor Guy, and poor Barry. They don’t stand a chance. The affinity Roisin feels for red transcends any and all advice she is given including that of her own eyes.
Every credit is due to Louise Kennedy. She didn’t turn to writing until well into her fifties. Good for her. This is a horribly perceptive picture of a time, the 1980s, when life in an inner city could be brutal.
Wimbledon Book Festival conversation with Chris Power 17.10.26
• A lot that’s autobiographical. Left the north in 1979. Did go to Henley with its tartan rugs and Panama hats. Pimms in one hand, champagne in the other. Man on the coach in Victoria coach station
• Irish diaspora. Men who arrived in England in the 1950s and 1960s. Hard labour, drink, and loneliness.
• On Irish writers from the north. They/we need to send flowers to Anna Burns. (Booker winner)
• “Stations”. Transit (Victoria);transience of squats; Roisin ideas above her…..; Stations of the cross.
• A few possible endings to the book. This was the only plausible one. Done with the characters now (Roisin has first appeared in a book of short stories ten years ago).
• Next novel will/might be called “Novena” (means nine days of devotional prayer)
Roisin Mccaffry is a very attractive character (personality). We don’t get much guidance on her physical looks, and that’s great. Let the reader decide. (I’m not a great fan of the book cover though. A photograph of a beautiful young woman which is bound to influence your mind’s eye imagination.) Roisin has a wicked line in dialogue and sharp banter and she makes an immediate impression on those she meets. Her lustre fades as the story progresses, and this is entirely appropriate as the love of her life, Red descends into a serious drug induced poverty, hunger and homelessness. He’s her soul mate and hence the evisceration of his youthful hopes is bound to affect Roisin.
It’s a beautiful, and hopeful turn when Rosin’s much younger (step) sister, Mary, reaches adulthood. Mary has the same family genes that make her a youthful light in any room.
The sisters differ. A list of life affirming aspirations in a book gifted to Roisin (”I could read the sky”) by Timothy O'Grady, includes the pointer to “perform the manners of meeting and greeting“. Roisin is especially coy and awkward in this respect.
Poor Guy, and poor Barry. They don’t stand a chance. The affinity Roisin feels for red transcends any and all advice she is given including that of her own eyes.
Every credit is due to Louise Kennedy. She didn’t turn to writing until well into her fifties. Good for her. This is a horribly perceptive picture of a time, the 1980s, when life in an inner city could be brutal.
Wimbledon Book Festival conversation with Chris Power 17.10.26
• A lot that’s autobiographical. Left the north in 1979. Did go to Henley with its tartan rugs and Panama hats. Pimms in one hand, champagne in the other. Man on the coach in Victoria coach station
• Irish diaspora. Men who arrived in England in the 1950s and 1960s. Hard labour, drink, and loneliness.
• On Irish writers from the north. They/we need to send flowers to Anna Burns. (Booker winner)
• “Stations”. Transit (Victoria);transience of squats; Roisin ideas above her…..; Stations of the cross.
• A few possible endings to the book. This was the only plausible one. Done with the characters now (Roisin has first appeared in a book of short stories ten years ago).
• Next novel will/might be called “Novena” (means nine days of devotional prayer)
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Loved it. Reminded me some of Normal People, though still very much its own sad story. Louise Kennedy can really write! Full review to follow.
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.
September 27, 2026
I quite enjoyed Kennedy's 'Trespasses', and was excited to see what she would follow it up with. Using a short story character as the basis for a novel isn't always a good choice, and compared to her debut, this has the feel of "written before that one, but held off publishing until", if that is even a literary plan. This reads as semi-autofictional, filled out with large swaths of utterly stereotypical Irish class identification. Not saying it isn't (or couldn't be?) true to life, but for fiction it reads too true to life. Zero nuance, no variation on the down-and-out thematic, with appropriate everything assuredly included, ad nauseam. Not sure what I expected but this wasn't enjoyable at all. The writing is skillful, clear and spartan prose, a bit dialogue-heavy (personal pet peeve), but not literary drivel, skill-wise. Just a bland, forgettable piece of plotting that leaves no marks at all. Great cover art.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I don't want to be mean, but if possible, this may be the most nothing book ever. I'm not mad at it or anything I just feel nothing. It is a thing I read and was able to make it through without too much difficulty, but it failed to truly engross me or interest me. The writing isn't bad, but incredibly detached, and I lacked the character elements that make a character driven work like this - such as any sense of Ró's rich inner life or raw feeling. I lacked any awareness of the true pain or unease that comes with loving someone devolving into active addiction, but maybe that was the point.
All of this being said, after DNFing 'Trespasses' for being thoroughly miserable, I will not be picking up a book by Louise Kennedy ever again. (Special thank you to my boyfriend for translating some lines of dialogue and description I am too American to comprehend)
All of this being said, after DNFing 'Trespasses' for being thoroughly miserable, I will not be picking up a book by Louise Kennedy ever again. (Special thank you to my boyfriend for translating some lines of dialogue and description I am too American to comprehend)
June 8, 2026
Amazing amazing amazing
November 1, 2026
Thank you Riverhead Books for my free ARC of Stations by Louise Kennedy — out Nov 3!
» READ IF YOU «
💔 have ever carried a heartbreak around for years
🇮🇪 want 1980s Ireland and a grimy London squat as your backdrop
😭 are ready to be quietly demolished in your own home
» SYNOPSIS «
Róisín and Red meet as outcast teens in 1980s Ireland and bond the way only two malcontent kids can. When Red is forced to leave for London, Róisín follows, and may spend the rest of her life attempting to answer a single question—will she ever stop longing for him?
» REVIEW «
I have a soft spot for Irish authors. I vividly remember reading Trespasses, years ago, and feeling instantly compelled to name Louise Kennedy as a favorite author—but, with just one novel? Was that premature? Well, I did it anyway, and she has just proven my faith in her by delivering a beautiful and heartbreaking sophomore novel.
Respectfully, WHAT THE FUCK. I finished this story and thought I was okay, but then I walked into the kitchen and the sobs overwhelmed me. My God, what a book. Kennedy writes characters that instantly and completely disarm you, and she does it in order to obliterate your heart. The tenderness and devastation in this story is unforgettable, and her writing makes the book completely un-put-downable. A favorite of the year for me, no question.
I'm heading off to be alone and recover. No one speak to me unless you're singing me Pretenders lyrics in an Irish accent. Also, if you're someone who freaks out about a lack of speech marks in print, don't read this book. Or, listen to the audio version. But I do not want to see a one-star review because you don't care for an artist's stylist choices. Read something else and leave my Róisín and Red alone.
If you want to talk about this book, my DMs are open. Forever.
» RATING «
😭 I Need Another Four Years to Recover 😭
» READ-A-LIKES «
• Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• The Banshees of Inisherin (2022 film)
» READ IF YOU «
💔 have ever carried a heartbreak around for years
🇮🇪 want 1980s Ireland and a grimy London squat as your backdrop
😭 are ready to be quietly demolished in your own home
» SYNOPSIS «
Róisín and Red meet as outcast teens in 1980s Ireland and bond the way only two malcontent kids can. When Red is forced to leave for London, Róisín follows, and may spend the rest of her life attempting to answer a single question—will she ever stop longing for him?
» REVIEW «
I have a soft spot for Irish authors. I vividly remember reading Trespasses, years ago, and feeling instantly compelled to name Louise Kennedy as a favorite author—but, with just one novel? Was that premature? Well, I did it anyway, and she has just proven my faith in her by delivering a beautiful and heartbreaking sophomore novel.
Respectfully, WHAT THE FUCK. I finished this story and thought I was okay, but then I walked into the kitchen and the sobs overwhelmed me. My God, what a book. Kennedy writes characters that instantly and completely disarm you, and she does it in order to obliterate your heart. The tenderness and devastation in this story is unforgettable, and her writing makes the book completely un-put-downable. A favorite of the year for me, no question.
I'm heading off to be alone and recover. No one speak to me unless you're singing me Pretenders lyrics in an Irish accent. Also, if you're someone who freaks out about a lack of speech marks in print, don't read this book. Or, listen to the audio version. But I do not want to see a one-star review because you don't care for an artist's stylist choices. Read something else and leave my Róisín and Red alone.
If you want to talk about this book, my DMs are open. Forever.
» RATING «
😭 I Need Another Four Years to Recover 😭
» READ-A-LIKES «
• Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• The Banshees of Inisherin (2022 film)
Did Not Finish
October 18, 2026Besloten te DNF’en omdat ik gewoon elke keer dat ik een zin zag zonder aanhalingstekens ik intern boos werd. Ik kan er gewoon niet tegen (al komen sommige experimentele boeken er wel mee weg) en kom niet in het verhaal. Ik heb geen zin om een boek te lezen waarbij ik op elke pagina boos ben 🥹 maar please TELL ME WHYYYY one would do this omg
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.
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.
October 22, 2026
“Describing her debut novel as an unintentionally ‘plotty book,’ “Stations” embodies’ Kennedy’s more vibes-based manner of working. ‘I don’t plot or plan,’ the author shares. ‘If “Stations” has a plot, it’s maybe just about the choices that one girl – who then becomes a woman – makes over the course of her life, and the people who are important to her at various stages, who come and go, and what they help her learn about herself. A lot of it is about regret. I’m almost 60, and I don’t know anybody my age who doesn’t grapple with that often.’”
~ Olivia Emily in Country & Town House
I have been obsessed with Louise Kennedy since I first picked up “Trespasses”. That novel raged its way into my heart like no other, with writing that was as taut as it was raw, leaving no room for indulgence or melodrama. You know, Irish writers.
Louise Kennedy writes books with a sense of urgency that is palpable on the page. Here is a woman whose interior life is marred by personal pain and deep socio-political traumas linked to Northern Ireland where she grew up. Demons are aplenty and they are vocal.
“Stations” has many of Kennedy’s signature traits: sad and rebellious women who don’t suffer fools, a deadpan sense of humor in the face of tragedy, language that moves like water. It is suffused with aching hearts and a constant longing for a “home” that is always out of reach and impossible to return to.
And yet this one left me wanting. I wanted more of Red and had to accept that his fleeting presence was perhaps meant to be exactly that: a haunting absence, a ghost, the incarnation of all the people in our lives that we couldn’t help, couldn’t change, couldn’t save.
I also had a hard time with the time jumps which became wider and wider apart as the book progressed and ended up diluting a lot of the story’s poignancy. Emotional connection is hard to sustain with so much projection.
While this was not my favorite book of hers, I will still read anything Louise Kennedy writes. Her tales of brokenhearted souls pushing ahead against the odds are as essential to our fictional landscape as those of Carson McCullers.
The Irish heart is indeed the loneliest of hunters.
~ Olivia Emily in Country & Town House
I have been obsessed with Louise Kennedy since I first picked up “Trespasses”. That novel raged its way into my heart like no other, with writing that was as taut as it was raw, leaving no room for indulgence or melodrama. You know, Irish writers.
Louise Kennedy writes books with a sense of urgency that is palpable on the page. Here is a woman whose interior life is marred by personal pain and deep socio-political traumas linked to Northern Ireland where she grew up. Demons are aplenty and they are vocal.
“Stations” has many of Kennedy’s signature traits: sad and rebellious women who don’t suffer fools, a deadpan sense of humor in the face of tragedy, language that moves like water. It is suffused with aching hearts and a constant longing for a “home” that is always out of reach and impossible to return to.
And yet this one left me wanting. I wanted more of Red and had to accept that his fleeting presence was perhaps meant to be exactly that: a haunting absence, a ghost, the incarnation of all the people in our lives that we couldn’t help, couldn’t change, couldn’t save.
I also had a hard time with the time jumps which became wider and wider apart as the book progressed and ended up diluting a lot of the story’s poignancy. Emotional connection is hard to sustain with so much projection.
While this was not my favorite book of hers, I will still read anything Louise Kennedy writes. Her tales of brokenhearted souls pushing ahead against the odds are as essential to our fictional landscape as those of Carson McCullers.
The Irish heart is indeed the loneliest of hunters.
October 31, 2026
Endlich ein neuer Roman der nordirischen Autorin Louise Kennedy: „Red“, Originaltitel „Stations“. Eigentlich hätte dieser auch viel besser gepasst, denn wir begleiten über einen langen Zeitraum (1982 bis 2007) die Lebenswege von Red und Róisín.
Die beiden lernen sich 1982 als Teenager im südirischen Kildare kennen. Beide Außenseiter, beide in schwierigen Familienverhältnissen aufgewachsen, beide auf der Suche. Eine tiefe Freundschaft, von Róisíns Seite die erste Liebe. Red bleibt auf Distanz, gerät mit dem Gesetz in Konflikt, sein Vater schiebt ihn nach London ab. Er findet Unterschlupf in einem besetzten Haus, gerät immer tiefer in die Drogenszene, konsumiert und dealt.
Róisín sehnt sich nach dem Freund, fährt nach London, findet ihn und campiert einige Zeit auch in der besetzten Bruchbude. Sie fühlt sich für Red verantwortlich, will ihn retten, ohne Erfolg. Sie gibt auf, verlässt ihn, kann ihn aber nicht komplett aus ihrem Denken verbannen.
Das ist nur der Anfang der Geschichte. Wer nun aber eine Love-Story erwartet, wird enttäuscht sein, denn das ist es ganz und gar nicht. Louise Kennedy verpackt in szenischen Bildern und Alltagssituationen eine historisch-kritische Gesellschaftsanalyse über eine junge irische Generation, die in den 80er Jahren die Illusion hatte, dass ein Ortswechsel Herkunft und Klassenzugehörigkeit vom Tisch wischen und eine Chance auf ein besseres Leben bieten könne. Falsch gedacht, und das macht die Autorin sehr eindrücklich sichtbar.
Ein Roman für die Highlight-Liste des Jahres 2026. Unbedingt lesen!
Die beiden lernen sich 1982 als Teenager im südirischen Kildare kennen. Beide Außenseiter, beide in schwierigen Familienverhältnissen aufgewachsen, beide auf der Suche. Eine tiefe Freundschaft, von Róisíns Seite die erste Liebe. Red bleibt auf Distanz, gerät mit dem Gesetz in Konflikt, sein Vater schiebt ihn nach London ab. Er findet Unterschlupf in einem besetzten Haus, gerät immer tiefer in die Drogenszene, konsumiert und dealt.
Róisín sehnt sich nach dem Freund, fährt nach London, findet ihn und campiert einige Zeit auch in der besetzten Bruchbude. Sie fühlt sich für Red verantwortlich, will ihn retten, ohne Erfolg. Sie gibt auf, verlässt ihn, kann ihn aber nicht komplett aus ihrem Denken verbannen.
Das ist nur der Anfang der Geschichte. Wer nun aber eine Love-Story erwartet, wird enttäuscht sein, denn das ist es ganz und gar nicht. Louise Kennedy verpackt in szenischen Bildern und Alltagssituationen eine historisch-kritische Gesellschaftsanalyse über eine junge irische Generation, die in den 80er Jahren die Illusion hatte, dass ein Ortswechsel Herkunft und Klassenzugehörigkeit vom Tisch wischen und eine Chance auf ein besseres Leben bieten könne. Falsch gedacht, und das macht die Autorin sehr eindrücklich sichtbar.
Ein Roman für die Highlight-Liste des Jahres 2026. Unbedingt lesen!
October 23, 2026
"There's a hole in Daddy's arm, where all the money goes, dachte sie. Ein Song von John Prine, den er in Dauerschleife gespielt hatte, ohne je daran zu denken, dass auch sein Arm eines Tages ein Loch haben würde."
Louise Kennedy erzählt die Geschichte von Róisín und Red. Beide lernen sich 1982 in der irischen Stadt Kildare kennen, da sind sie gerade einmal fünfzehn Jahre alt. Sie werden Freunde, während Róisín sich eigentlich mehr wünscht, hält Red sie immer ein bisschen Abstand. Als Red aus seinem gewalttätigen Zuhause in ein besetztes Haus nach London flüchtet, folgt Róisín ihm kurz darauf. Doch der Abstand zwischen ihnen, der bleibt: Red dealt nicht nur mit Drogen, sondern hat angefangen auch selbst welche zu nehmen. Róisín schafft irgendwann den Absprung, lässt aber Red in einem Leben zurück, dass nur noch aus Dunkelheit besteht.
Mich hat die Freundschaft zwischen Red und Róisín sehr berührt: beide wachsen in trostlosen Umständen auf und sind umgeben von Menschen, auf die sie sich nicht verlassen können und die ihnen keinen Halt geben. Róisín gelingt es, sich ein eigenes Leben aufzubauen, aber verliert dabei den Menschen aus den Augen, der ihr - als beide 15 Jahre alt waren - lebenslange Freundschaft versprach. Werden sich die beiden nochmal wiederfinden?
"Red" ist ein bewegendes Buch über Freundschaft, Liebe und Verzeihen. Manchmal müssen wir lernen, nicht nur anderen zu verzeihen, sondern auch uns selbst die Entscheidungen zu verzeihen, die wir in unserem Leben getroffen.
Louise Kennedy erzählt die Geschichte von Róisín und Red. Beide lernen sich 1982 in der irischen Stadt Kildare kennen, da sind sie gerade einmal fünfzehn Jahre alt. Sie werden Freunde, während Róisín sich eigentlich mehr wünscht, hält Red sie immer ein bisschen Abstand. Als Red aus seinem gewalttätigen Zuhause in ein besetztes Haus nach London flüchtet, folgt Róisín ihm kurz darauf. Doch der Abstand zwischen ihnen, der bleibt: Red dealt nicht nur mit Drogen, sondern hat angefangen auch selbst welche zu nehmen. Róisín schafft irgendwann den Absprung, lässt aber Red in einem Leben zurück, dass nur noch aus Dunkelheit besteht.
Mich hat die Freundschaft zwischen Red und Róisín sehr berührt: beide wachsen in trostlosen Umständen auf und sind umgeben von Menschen, auf die sie sich nicht verlassen können und die ihnen keinen Halt geben. Róisín gelingt es, sich ein eigenes Leben aufzubauen, aber verliert dabei den Menschen aus den Augen, der ihr - als beide 15 Jahre alt waren - lebenslange Freundschaft versprach. Werden sich die beiden nochmal wiederfinden?
"Red" ist ein bewegendes Buch über Freundschaft, Liebe und Verzeihen. Manchmal müssen wir lernen, nicht nur anderen zu verzeihen, sondern auch uns selbst die Entscheidungen zu verzeihen, die wir in unserem Leben getroffen.
October 26, 2026
Feels like I’ve been slapped in the face
Review of advance copy
Ugh I love how she writes! Give me more Louise Kennedy more more more!!
All the bits set in London in the 80s literally seemed like the middle ages
All the bits set in London in the 80s literally seemed like the middle ages
October 8, 2026
In Red begleiten wir Roisin, eine junge Irin, die später nach London auswandert, von ihrer Jugend bis ins mittlere Erwachsenenalter. Zunächst geht es viel um ihre Freundschaft zu Red, einem Jungen, den sie aus der Schule kennt, den sie aber immer wieder aus den Augen verliert.
Louise Kennedys präziser, trockener Schreibstil hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Gleichzeitig hat sie ein tolles Gespür für ihre Figuren. Besonders mochte ich, dass die Charaktere nicht perfekt sind und sich ihre Beziehungen und Entscheidungen nicht immer einfach einordnen lassen. Das Buch ist stellenweise ziemlich düster und behandelt schwere Themen wie Sucht, Familie und Trauma, aber nicht auf eine arg emotionale Weise, wie das in anderen Büchern oft der Fall ist.
Auf jeden Fall ein Buch, das ich gerne gelesen habe und weiterempfehlen würde.
Louise Kennedys präziser, trockener Schreibstil hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Gleichzeitig hat sie ein tolles Gespür für ihre Figuren. Besonders mochte ich, dass die Charaktere nicht perfekt sind und sich ihre Beziehungen und Entscheidungen nicht immer einfach einordnen lassen. Das Buch ist stellenweise ziemlich düster und behandelt schwere Themen wie Sucht, Familie und Trauma, aber nicht auf eine arg emotionale Weise, wie das in anderen Büchern oft der Fall ist.
Auf jeden Fall ein Buch, das ich gerne gelesen habe und weiterempfehlen würde.
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