Rooster #19
Holiday reads, the best of Substack and the perfect high waisted bikini...
The Rooster is my weekly newsletter, part of which sits behind a paywall. This week behind the paywall are some of my favourite articles of the last few weeks on Substack, I have found the perfect affordable high waisted bikini and I’m giving paid subscribers an opportunity to come to my literary salon at the London Irish Centre with Kit DeWaal and Michael McGee next week.. you can upgrade to a paid subscription here…
Lads I’m all over the place. Please excuse any mistakes, or errors or just a general sense of chaos within this weeks Rooster. I’m upside down with jetlag.
I went on holidays for two weeks. Upon our return London had changed. The heat shifted things here. Everything is abundance. The Chamelia has dropped its blossom all over the garden, already rotting brown, the trees are speckled green with new leaves, the air is all thick with scent and pollen, the cherry trees are blasting pink, forget me nots a delicate blue, tulips deep maroon - everything is out and proud and flaunting colour. You could feel drunk on it.
I thought there would be so much time to think on holidays. We’ve never been away for two weeks before. But I forgot that kids plus holidays does not equal ponderous hours. We did lots. I wrote nothing; no journals, no notes, no ideas jotted down. I guess I needed the time to empty my head. My body is still warmed up from the sun and the sea and my general feeling is one of huge gratitude. Years of shivering on Irish beaches, made me forgot how nice it is to be on a beach in just swim wear, to feel the sun on your skin. And to have been able to spend concentrated time with my kids. To watch them up close. To delight in them. I reckon there was about 47 games of Uno played. I ended up teaching them Poker (five card stud) in the end just to break the monotony. Upon arrival at every restaurant I emptied my handbag onto the table, a huge pile of shells, split up into four equal parts to use for betting.
I read two books both of which I can ardently recommend.
The Safe Keep - Yael van der Wouden
A debut novel, shortlisted for the booker prize last year. It is the story of Isobel a lonely young woman living in her mother’s old house , loving and preserving every part of it - it’s all she’s got. She is instinctively hostile to newcomers, until she is forced to host her brothers girlfriend for a Summer. Cue sexual tension. The book is incredibly sexy but also features a big and very powerful twist at the end which takes you by surprise. It really is a perfect holiday read if you love literary fiction. My big sell to my friend Sara was
It’s absolutely incredible. Kinda hot
she then sent me this message.
Babe. The safe keep. What a GREAT recommendation. It’s been months since I’ve been this into a book. Thank you x
Elaine Feeney - Let Me Go Mad In My Own Way
This is dropping at the end of May. Elaine’s last book How to Build A Boat was longlisted for the booker. Her prose is poetic but never overly embellished. Her female characters are enigmatic and flawed in a way that is hugely relatable. There’s a darkness to them. An unwillingness to play the game. This book follows Claire O’Connor who after a decade of living in London and a shattering break up, moves back to the West of Ireland to care for her dying father. The book spans three generations of the same Irish family and is a searing portrait of intergenerational trauma - spanning the tyranny of the Black and Tans in 1920 to Tik Tok and trad wives in 2022. I loved it. It’s heavy in places, but incredibly revelatory and powerful. You can pre-order it here
While we’re on the subject of flawed female protagonists that we root for, It would be me remiss of me not to mention this book, which came out a few weeks ago…
Kit DeWaal - The Best Of Everything
This had me openly weeping on a transfer bus from Cork airport to Dingle in County Kerry last year. Big ugly sobs. it’s so good. Kit is an incredibly accomplished writer (buy My Name is Leon immediately!) - this is her first novel in seven years. It follows the story of Paulette, who came to England from St Kitts as a child, and her unlikely friendship with a young white boy the same age as her son. It’s a book about kindness and forgiveness. It’s funny and devastating, and so beautifully observed. You can buy it here
And keeping it on Kit DeWaal for a hot second, next Wednesday 23rd April I’m going to be hosting another literary salon at the London Irish Centre in Camden with Kit DeWaal and Michael McGee and with music provided by Maria Kelly. Michael McGee wrote the Nero book award winning Close To Home, which came out in 2023.
I have ten guest list places to give away to this event….