We’re perched on our bikes at the top of the hill. There’s a turning melt of sky above us. The town’s glittering below. We’re fifteen and it’s the summer of our lives so Kinlough is gathering itself up into the moment with us – the whole town’s pure responsive to our energies.

The year is 2003, the place is a seaside town on Ireland’s West Coast, as six inseparable friends experience a summer of the fierce love of new friendships and the headiness of young love, the angst, the shifting loyalties, the need to belong, and the supporting each other through the trials and tribulations of family dynamics. By the end of the summer, the charismatic Kala has disappeared, and those left behind will find their lives changed forever. Fast forward 15 years, and three of the gang – Helen, Joe and Mush – find themselves reunited once again in Kinlough, only for circumstances to bring the past rushing in as old memories resurface in the new light of the present. 

I loved this. For me, there were some real Una Mannion vibes around this book (that’s a great thing) in terms of character building and gripping, page-turning storytelling with a coming-of-age element to it, but Colin Walsh comes completely into his own in this debut novel and I couldn’t put it down – the quote above is the opening lines of the book, giving a sense of his atmospheric use of language that engages the reader fully and drives the story forwards. Walsh’s writing really captures a sense of place, while conjuring believable and fully rounded characters we feel invested in, the secrets, lies, darkness and violence simmering beneath the surface of individual families and the wider community in a small town, topped off with a propulsive plotline that keeps us hooked. 

Walsh brilliantly captures the headiness of teenage summers, and I particularly loved the real warmth within the friendships, despite the natural and volatile ups and downs of adolescence. The vivid and dynamic colloquial language really grounds the story in the small-town setting, and gives a sense of the story playing out in a contained space with its own hidden histories. This book moves between the then and the now; contrasting the teenage abandon, despite the hidden hardships of these pivotal years of transition, with the life-weariness of adulthood haunted by trauma; an adulthood with so many questions left unanswered; with some unable to leave the small town, but all unable to leave it behind no matter how far they went. Despite the dark themes, highly recommend this as a book to get immersed in over the Christmas break.

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Kala was published by Atlantic Books in 2023.

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Colin Walsh‘s short stories have won several awards including the RTE Francis MacManus Short Story Prize and the Hennessy Literary Award. In 2019 he was named Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year. His writing has been published in the Stinging Fly, the Irish Times and broadcast on RTE Radio 1 and BBC Radio 4. KALA is his first novel. He is from Galway and lives in Belgium.