Stakes: A memoir

by Noelle McCarthy

A darkly funny, sparkling follow-up to the author’s bestselling memoir Grand.

You have to invite him in. You have to want the vampire’s badness in the house with you.

Growing up in Catholic Ireland, Noelle McCarthy is captivated by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The vampire is a risk-free fantasy, a suave alternative to the fraught realities of desire.

Twenty years later, exhausted by her unruly appetites, Noelle returns to Dracula, reckoning with her own history and a changing world: generation-spanning shame and trauma given voice by #Metoo and the horrors emerging from Irish soil.

More than a century after readers were first mesmerised by Dracula, Stakes transposes its electric themes of transgression, intoxication and sexual danger onto Noelle’s own life, asking; what's the difference between an inheritance and a curse?

A funny, visceral follow-up to the acclaimed Grand, Stakes celebrates the power of a gothic horror to help you face the parts of life that scare you most.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

Published June 2, 2026

Reviews

[Ruth Pearson]

Oppressively well written. I loved it from cover to cover.

[Rachael]

Bloody BRILLIANT

[Izzy]

Bit of a slow burn but picks up its stride towards the end. So many issues explored here like getting sober, a complicated mother/daughter bond, sexual awakening coinciding with pressure and often instances of harm for young women, the loneliness of first time motherhood in the age of Me Too. I enjoy the author’s characteristic combination of wit and melancholy.

[Kristen]

Too much vampire for me

[Robyn O'Neill]

I’ll get the caveats out of the way first. I haven’t read Grand, and haven’t read Bram Stoker’s Dracula for decades. I feel like I would have had a better grasp on the book’s themes if I had. I was not sure what to make of Noelle’s mother, Carol. Was she a good mother or not? Carol was complicated, families are complicated, perhaps confused is the correct feeling to have. If I get the chance to read Grand, I’ll be interested to get more insight into Noelle & Carol’s relationship.

I loved the writing so much. Noelle has a way of capturing the essence of people and places. Having lived in NZ, Australia and Ireland, like Noelle, I frequently felt like I was being transported to familiar places. She describes her female friends with such humour, love and wisdom.

The early part of Stakes covers Noelle’s teens & twenties, meeting men and having a variety of sex and relationship experiences, in a time when attitudes to consent was different. When, later in the book, Noelle meets her spouse and has a daughter, and with the #MeToo movement as a backdrop, she rages. I got a feeling of foreboding through Noelle’s early experiences. An encapsulation of most women’s sense of being watched, assessed, sometimes threatened, even assaulted, and the rage as the unfairness of this is eventually recognised.

There is grief and rage for the infants’ bodies discovered in mass graves in Ireland, and for the treatment of unwed mothers. Noelle’s mother had two babies out of wedlock, one of whom was adopted and who tries to trace Carol down after her death. These babies are frequently mentioned through the memoir, often spoken about by Carol. There is the implication that the pregnancies are “non-consensual”, and the pregnancies and loss of the babies makes me feel sympathetic to Carol and her destructive drinking.

There is a lot going on in Stakes. There is Noelle’s recovery from alcoholism; grief over losing a friend and her mother; wanderings and homecomings; first time motherhood; toxic relationships and healthy ones that were too safe; and Dracula. I enjoyed the depiction of Noelle as a young woman, sleeping in front of her open window with her neck exposed, willing Dracula to come for her. It reminded me of that age when drama & romance were the stuff of life, all the better if it was very slightly thrilling. I also enjoyed Noelle’s retelling of her visit to Whitby, accidentally coinciding with Goth Weekend. There were other parts of the book where I skimmed over the bits about Dracula, I was much more interested in Noelle’s story.

[Lucy]

I'll be thinking about this for a long time. It's masterfully done.

[Liz Butler]

I want more people to read this!

[Jenny]

Loved this memoir as much as I did the first book. She inspired me to read Dracula which I dove into, and was glad I did for this book. Such real, raw writing.

[Michelle Nasey]

I wanted to like this more. I haven’t read Dracula so some parts were a little confusing. I loved her honesty particularly the brutality of life with a newborn.

[Jessica Hinerangi T. Carr]

I loved this book. Noelle is a quick witted, beautiful writer.

[Kate Kearns]

Slow start but absolutely exquisite

[Garth Jones]

Podcast to follow.