Rockadoon Shore

Cath is worried about her friends. DanDan is struggling with the death of his ex, Lucy is drinking way too much and Steph has become closed off. A weekend away is just what they need. They travel out to Rockadoon Lodge, to the wilds in the west of Ireland.

But the weekend doesn't go to plan. JJ is more concerned with getting high than spending time with them, while Merc is humiliated and seeks revenge. And when their elderly neighbour Malachy arrives on their doorstep in the dead of night with a gun in his hands, nothing will be the same again for any of them . . .

Honest, moving and human, ROCKADOON SHORE is a novel about friendship and youth, about missed opportunities and lost love, and about the realities of growing up and growing old in modern-day Ireland. Highly energetic and tensely humorous, it heralds a new and exciting voice in contemporary Irish fiction.

“Rockadoon Shore is terrific. It's full of surprises and sharp writing, great belts of dialogue, and a gang of characters who manage to be likeable and unlikeable, clever and thick, loud and vulnerable, entertaining and very, very real-- Roddy Doyle”

Rockadoon Shore is terrific. It's full of surprises and sharp writing, great belts of dialogue, and a gang of characters who manage to be likeable and unlikeable, clever and thick, loud and vulnerable, entertaining and very, very real Roddy Doyle
Fresh in its unpredictability . . . gutsy and ambitious Guardian
Crackling with wit and fine writing . . . An exuberant dispatch from the front line of youthful narcissism and despair Mail on Sunday
Rockadoon Shore, a saga about young people traversing the early years of adulthood and the decisions we make in life, is very much built to fit into the Irish literary-fiction domain where Donal Ryan and Lisa McInerney dwell Irish Sunday Independent
Think early Big Brother meets Friends, with a sprinkling of fish-out-of-water countryside farce à la Withnail & I . . . it hints at a keen and socially attentive writerly sensibility, which will hopefully be more expansively showcased in due course Irish Times
Gleeson is particularly good at skewering the unspoken tensions between his characters as the weekend falls apart spectacularly . . . This is an uncomfortable read that's like being in a slow, but mesmerising, train crash Daily Mail
Boisterous and energetic Irish Independent
Gleeson has energy and enthusiasm; he is a talent to watch Sunday Business Post
Rory Gleeson brilliantly nails the self-obsession of the young and entitled in this sharply observed tale of sex, drugs and Rockadoon Shore. A brand new and welcome voice speaking for the disenchanted and disaffected Liz Nugent
Fierce, funny, vivid, and compelling from the first line. Rory Gleeson is one of the most exciting Irish storytellers to have emerged in years Gavin Corbett
Rory Gleeson's debut novel reads like A Midsummer Night's Dream by way of Trainspotting, all moonlight and MDMA . . . Savage comedy and inevitable tragedy are unflinchingly and dauntlessly intermingled in this impressive debut, which has a flawless sense of place Sunday Times
Sharply funny Sunday Express
Gleeson is in fact remarkable not for his voice but for his voices: among other things, Rockadoon Shore is an accomplished act of ventriloquism. Gleeson giving the narrative reins to each of his characters in turn and thus extending his and our sympathy towards them all Times Literary Supplement

Rory Gleeson was born in Dublin in 1989. He has a BA in Psychology from Trinity College Dublin and an MA in Creative Writing from UEA. He lives in Toronto.

Cath is worried about her friends. DanDan is struggling with the death of his ex, Lucy is drinking way too much and Steph has become closed off. A weekend away is just what they need. They travel out to Rockadoon Lodge, to the wilds in the west of Ireland. But the weekend doesn't go to plan. JJ is more concerned with getting high than spending time with them, while Merc is humiliated and seeks revenge. And when their elderly neighbour Malachy arrives on their doorstep in the dead of night with a gun in his hands, nothing will be the same again for any of them . . .Honest, moving and human, ROCKADOON SHORE is a novel about friendship and youth, about missed opportunities and lost love, and about the realities of growing up and growing old in modern-day Ireland. Highly energetic and tensely humorous, it heralds a new and exciting voice in contemporary Irish fiction.

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