Evenings & Weekends

McKenna’s stunning debut dips into a London summer vibe with characters intrinsically connected and wrapped up in life’s challenges. The listener becomes a fly on the wall as this community’s ties unfold over a weekend. The story features Maggie and Ed as they figure out their identities as soon-to-be parents. Maggie’s lovable best friend, Phil, reflects on secrets and his relationship with his nonmonogamous partner, Keith. Phil’s mom, Rosaleen, processes how to tell her family about her cancer diagnosis. All this while a whale is stuck in the Thames, with additional characters trying to help it survive. London’s heat wave swells as third-person narratives shift between characters’ innermost thoughts and circumstances. McKenna offers poetically captivating, heart-wrenching, and insightful perspectives that linger long after the book ends. Award-winning narrator Isabel Adomakoh Young brings the novel to life with a powerful performance that amplifies every character’s story. Her English accent conducts the intersecting storylines like a well-guided literary symphony.