Absolutely loved this book. Set in Cork city in 2010, a story about 2 best friends navigating through their early twenties. Great characters throughout the story, so relatable, great writing. Wouldn't have minded if it had another 100 pages. Will keep an eye out for this author in the future. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue* is a supremely perfect read about friendship, soulmates and what a uniquely special thing it is to be Irish in the world. Rachel is now an established journalist in London with a wonderful husband and a baby on the way. A chance encounter imparts some startling news and Rachel is thrust back into her final year of college, living with her best friend James, being typically messy, hedonistic 20 year olds, and to the affair that nearly broke them both.

As Rachel reminisces about that time, the depth of her relationship with James and their antics will take your breath away. It will be so painfully relatable to anyone who also graduated during the recession - the unsurety and unease of it all - and who had that one ride-or-die friend that was as messy, as sensitive, as troubled as you. The way they loved each other unconditionally was a joy to read and a welcome reminder that not all true love is romantic.

The scandal that eventually burst the Rachel-James bubble made my jaw drop. The build-up was so well executed that it hid the bombshell while also being so regrettably on-point for the Ireland of the time. Hilariously messy, relatably poignant, this is a must read.

If you're a fan of coming-of-age stories with a bit of a twist, then this book is for you. The relationships are a bit messy, it captures a person in her early twenties' life realistically, and if yo inclined the reader can identify with Rachel.

For me, though, it was not.

Synopsis:

The Rachel Incident follows 21 year old English student Rachel Murray in her final year of college - a pivotal year of high highs and low lows, and the year she first met her best friend James.

It’s 2010, Ireland is in a recession and Rachel is working in a bookshop to support her studies. When James gets a job there they quickly become platonically obsessed with each other and move into a rundown house on Shandon Street. However, when James becomes romantically entangled with her married English professor Dr Byrne, Rachel’s understanding of love and friendship are thoroughly challenged.

✨My thoughts:

I was also an English Lit student in 2010, so Rachel was very recognisable to me. In this modern Bildungsroman, told mostly in flashback, Caroline O’Donoghue is able to present the general zeitgeist of the 2000s with ease and explores heavy topics such as the recession, abortion, LGBTQ+ experiences and infidelity with both sensitivity and wit.

Ultimately, however, The Rachel Incident is a story of love - self, platonic and romantic - and that’s probably why I loved it so much.

As a long time listener of her podcast, Sentimental Garbage, I was already a big Caroline O’Donoghue fan. Her writing is always intelligent and compelling, and The Rachel Incident is no different. I loved some of the small nods that reminded me of the pod (‘It’s very a play!’, the references to Barbara Trapido’s Brother of the More Famous Jack etc) and highly recommend this book to fans of writers like Sally Rooney or Dolly Alderton.

Thank you to Netgalley and Virago for the e-arc - The Rachel Incident is out on June 22nd.

I requested an advanced copy after I enjoyed Promising Young Women. There's something about O'Donoghue's writing that feels so fresh - she manages to take friendships, relationships, and trauma and bring something new to the table. Without revealing too much, there's important social commentary here that feels very sincere. Plus she is witty as hell. Recommend if you like messy, loveable characters.

"I felt like a child whose imaginary friend was starting to bite people. The game had already gone too far."

7/10

Thank you to Little, Brown Book Group and Netgalley for this ARC.

The Rachel Incident filled me with joyful nostalgia. It’s a coming-of-age story that made me feel so grateful for the relationships that I formed in my youth, particularly those that endured. I had worried that it could be one of those novels that makes older readers feel ancient and very far from the target demographic but instead I was brilliantly transported back to my own student days. So I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Rachel and I thought the author struck the perfect balance between conveying the giddy excitement and vibrancy of university life and the often alarming reality of functioning independently as an adult. But the book also has a serious side and I was reminded of listening to “Everyday” by The Saw Doctors in the 90s and feeling incredibly fortunate. An important message!

In short, I loved this book and found it very readable and relatable.

To be published via Instagram following the embargo period.

Very good read. Wonderful account of life in your teens and twenties when new social challenges are to be negotiated at every turn. Very convincingly told.

A beautiful important read

This short literature fiction novel seems to have been on everyone's radar for most anticipated 2023 releases! And honestly I 100% get why.

With simple use of language Caroline creates an important story about self discovery and very complicated human relationships.

All the characters in the book read so realistically, and the narrative feels so personal, almost as if it's the autobiography of a real person rather than the narration of a fictional character. This book PERFECTLY captures what it's like to be lost, insecure and trying to navigate the world during your 20s.


Absolutely recommend.

'The Rachel Incident' by Caroline O'Donoghue is a brilliantly compelling novel about relationships, desire and power which offers a clever twist on the recent spate of (excellent) novels about abusive relationships between younger women and older men in positions of authority.

We first meet Rachel as an Irish journalist living in London in 2021. A chance encounter causes her to think back to her final year as a student in Cork in 2010 when she became obsessed with her married professor, Dr Fred Byrne. Together with her housemate and best friend, James, she plans to seduce him, but nothing goes to plan, and Rachel, James, Dr Byrne and his wife will all be profoundly effected by the events that unfold over the following months.

It is hard to say too much more without spoiling the pleasure of reading this book, so much of which comes from O'Donoghue's ingenious and intriguing plot which manages to be consistently surprising but totally plausible at the same time. Plot is not this novel's only strength, however: Rachel's narrative voice is witty, incisive and often touchingly vulnerable; the central characters and relationships are powerfully evoked, particularly the intense friendship between Rachel and James which is at the heart of the novel' and O'Donoghue perceptively explores a number of weighty issues including money, social class, sexuality and gender inequality. She writes particularly well about what is like to be young and broke in the specific climate of Ireland's economic downturn.

Comparisons to Sally Rooney are perhaps unavoidable, and this novel is particularly reminiscent of Rooney's 'Conversations with Friends' with its depiction of two young adults' transgressive relationship with an older couple. I am a huge admirer of Rooney's writing but I found 'The Rachel Incident' to be even funnier, wiser, sadder, more soulful, more compassionate and ultimately more romantic. There are relatively few authors who manage to achieve such depth in such an unputdownable story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

This isn’t an author I’ve read from before and isn’t my usual genre of book but it was a refreshing change. Very slice of life and definitely felt like it could’ve been based on a true story.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I raced through this book, it felt like I was sat with a friend over a glass of wine and a cigarette (I don’t smoke.) I could hear the author speaking to me, which meant I couldn’t put it down, couldn’t stop thinking about it. The acknowledgements helped me understand why and the request at the very end imploring donations touched me. I love stories that put the microscope onto a small period of time, and this book nailed that with references that were accurate and took you back but didn’t become cliche. The dialogue was so skilled (I normally cringe at dialogue often wondering if anyone talks how people talk on fiction) but this nailed real life.

The one thing I didn’t like and found quite jarring was the way homosexuality was referred to through a heterosexual lens as ‘queer’. I understand this comes from the protagonist’s relationship with James, and also the O’Donoghue’s own relationship with her real life James (the acknowledgments gave me the impression that there was a lot of truth/autobiography to parts of this fiction) but I’d have liked some recognition that although Rachel is a strong ally she is also privileged.

Still, a book I’ll be thinking about for a long time. Very clever, a different story to what I was expecting.

The Rachel Incident is an honest, razor sharp story about love, loss and friendship.

Set in Cork, Ireland during the early 2000’s, Rachel is living a mundane and monotonous life consisting of studying and working and feeling melancholic. Cue James - a sparkling and electric presence in her life, bringing excitement and mystery to it. The two quickly become inseparable, spending their days working together at the slowly dying local bookshop and going home to their decaying two person flat. Rachel’s life is suddenly a lot more exciting, filled with a best friend, drinking, boys and harbouring a not so secret crush on her English professor. The latter is where the ‘Rachel Incident’ occurs.

I absolutely loved O’Donoghue’s voice in this book. Clever, sharp and sure of herself. I’m sure she drew on so many of her own experiences and feelings growing up in Ireland during that time and it absolutely made the book what it is. It is so starkly honest yet tender, she makes the average everyday experience of simply living feel like something extraordinary. Which, as a young girl, it always is.

What I loved most was exactly what she summed up in the dedication of her book - to the boy who loved her then and to the one who loved her now. More than anything, this book is about her relationship with men and all that they encompass. And I loved that. I’m so big on depicting fantastic, raw female relationships, but to me it is of equal importance to bring attention to relationships with men and the joy that they can hold.

Rachel as a character is not even flawed, just human and learning her way through life. Her experiences are monumental in not only her development but for commentary on such important social issues that plagued Ireland at the time - abortion laws and recessions. These subjects were so cleverly interviewed into the story and into Rachel as a character.

I was apprehensive of the ending but it is absolutely what took this from a four stars to a five stars. It is simply the perfect amount of hopeful.

This book was absolutely excellent! The setting was wonderful and I could really pick myself walking alongside the characters in familiar places. I loved the friendship between Rachel and her best friend James and how they treated each other like shit half the time and would take a bullet for one another the other half! Rachel as a character is so likeable, you'd want to be her friend but is definitely a character that would annoy you so much too! Overall I just think this book had something special in and I highly recommend buying it when it comes out at the end of June 2023!

An extremely heartfelt, funny, and well written story about the complexities of relationships and life.

A very flawed 20 year old and her many questionable decisions make for a fun and engaging read. Plenty of Irish themes and experiences, with memorable characters living their youth in Cork during the 2008 recession.

An exciting book read with twists that keep you guessing till the end! Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC

What an absolute treat of a book this was, I could not put it down and had it finished within a day. Darkly funny in parts, filled with chaotic characters making questionable/frustrating decisions – it was enjoyable, engrossing and really well-written. I loved the mix of heavy subject matter coupled with the messiness of living with friends in your early 20s whilst trying to put your life in some sort of direction.
Thank you to Virago and NetGalley for the chance to read this advanced copy.

I have read everything Caroline O’Donoghue has written and have enjoyed all of it but this felt next level to me. I LOVED this wow I was truly bowled over.

Rachel is working as a journalist in London when she receives shocking news about someone from her past. Suddenly she is hurtled back to her early 20s and specifically the year she spent living with her best friend James in Cork. We relive this time with her - final year college, convinced she’s in love with her professor, about to graduate into a recession. So much of how Rachel is and how she lives is uncomfortably relatable and will likely send a bit of a shiver down your spine. Her relationship with James is so wonderfully fleshed out; there is such warmth to O’Donoghue’s writing and you can tell she really cares about her characters.

The central plot made my jaw drop at least twice! The balance between a rich plot but also real characterisation was so impressive to me because I don’t think we see it all too much? I basically read this on two flights and could barely stand to put it down. I was at the gate waiting to board clutching my kindle not wanting to tear my eyes away. There is no way this won’t be one of my favourites of the year and I hope it is absolutely massive.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group for a digital ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

This was a really pleasant surprise. I haven't felt particularly captivated by anything I've read in the past month or so, but this reeled me in early. There are echoes of Sally Rooney in the writing, but the main character, Rachel, feels a lot sturdier and more likeable than any of Sally Rooney's protagonists, even when she's doing morally questionable things. The ending felt very satisfying and complete; it was nice to see Rachel come full circle and find resolutions after everything the story puts her through. I can see myself rereading this in the future.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue

Rachel falls in love with her married professor and with the help of her best friend/housemate, James, hatches a plan to seduce him. The plan does not go as expected and the friends end up with their lives intertwined with Dr Byrne and his wife. I enjoyed that Rachel and James worked in a bookshop which was my dream job growing up. There are some cringeworthy moments which felt genuine in a coming of age story and I enjoyed the relationship between the friends.

This was a fast paced addictive read with flawed but likeable characters. It had a lot of warmth and humour. I think this book is going to be big over the Summer and enjoying it so much has inspired me to seek out Caroline O'Donoghue's earlier novels.

Is this on your Summer TBR list?

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalleyUK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Rachel Incident is out on 22nd June.
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