The hilarious and heartbreaking new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of PROMISING YOUNG WOMEN and SCENES OF A GRAPHIC NATURE
The Rachel Incident is an all-consuming love story. But it’s not the one you’re expecting. It’s unconventional and messy. It’s young and foolish. It’s about losing and finding yourself. But it is always about love.
When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr Byrne, her best friend James helps her devise a plan to seduce him. But what begins as a harmless crush soon pushes their friendship to its limits. Over the course of a year they will find their lives ever more entwined with the Byrnes’ and be faced with impossible choices and a lie that can’t be taken back…
A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 in the Irish Times, Sunday Independent, Irish Examiner and Irish Independent
"Sharp, wryly original ... quirky, eminently readable, funny" RTE, The best Irish books of 2023
"Made me realise I'd never properly understood the word 'whipsmart' till now. Hilarious, wise and wonderfully written" Graham Norton
"O'Donoghue has a sharp eye for the tumultuous life of a young woman struggling to figure out who she is ... profoundly satisfying ... O'Donoghue has found a way to tell this story in scenes both heartbreaking and funny" Ron Charles, Washington Post
"Books by Irish women writers are hot these days, and this novel is on fire.... O'Donoghue deepens the familiar coming-of-age premise with riveting moral complications" People Magazine, Book of the Week
"Caroline O'Donoghue's best work yet, a rich and nuanced read which is endlessly entertaining" Irish Independent
"The story feels slick and refined like a HBO series, but what gives it heart is O'Donoghue's raucous humour slathered on top. It's a deeply satisfying novel about friendship, love and the uncertain Ireland of 2010" Irish Times
"An unconventional love story filled with heart and humour ... You'll gobble up The Rachel Incident in one bite and be left hungry for more" Daily Express
"A deliciously complicated and very real romance with some refreshing twists. O'Donoghue captures all the intensity of messy young love, burnishing it with nostalgia and pointed wit" Mail on Sunday
"Every so often, a novel comes around that makes you excited about reading again. For me, this year that is Caroline O'Donoghue's gripping, moving The Rachel Incident, which looks like it could be branded the book of the summer ... The book is full of witty insights that get you right to the heart of the character ... O'Donoghue is a funny, smart, fearless voice who strikes the perfect balance of realism and romance, and The Rachel Incident is a stormer of a novel" i News
"Sometimes the most passionate love stories are platonic. As sharply witty as it is warm-hearted and wise, this coming-of-age story about an Irish graduate and her gay best friend captures the intensity of friendship, the brittle craziness of youth and the desperation of gunning for an arts job in a recession" Guardian, Best Summer Reads
'Funny, fond and wittily observed' Sunday Times
"Key to it all is O’Donoghue’s spot-on portrayal of Rachel’s youthful yearning....In O’Donoghue’s world, there’s plenty to fall in love with." Publisher's Weekly
"A book full of love, and it is extremely easy to love reading it." Vogue
"Has engaging central characters and relevant things to say about ghosting, student dog years, reproductive healthcare and the destructiveness of small-town gossip." Independent
"Caroline O'Donoghue perfectly captures the intensity and high and lows of first love, and while The Rachel Incident is steeped in nostalgia and heartache, it's also very, very funny." Red Magazine
"Capturing the problems and intensity of early 20-something life, with the added complications of the restrictions of Catholic Ireland, this bittersweet story is at times laugh-out-loud funny." Best Magazine
"I haven't enjoyed a book as much as The Rachel Incident in a long time - so, so sharp, funny and painfully relatable. These characters defy tropes and stereotypes, they come alive on the page. I adored them." Laura Kay
"A book I took to my heart. . . A truly lovely read; complex in its emotional range, funny, poignant, heart-breaking, beautifully plotted, with clever, pacey dialogue, vivid characters and a shocking plot twist that left me gasping in horror." Barbara Trapido
'Deeply relatable and extremely funny, and features a dinner party scene so awkward I had to put the book down and do a bit of breathing before I continued' Eva Wiseman, Observer
"By turns hilarious and heartfelt, breezy and bittersweet, The Rachel Incident is a full-throated, big-hearted romp through early adulthood." Christina Baker Kline
"Caroline O'Donoghue writes characters that just sort of melt from the page and into your life - they are so relatable, so likeable, so beautifully messy. Her story of twenty-somethings stumbling through life, trying to find themselves but usually finding awful rented accommodation and crappy jobs instead is instantly relatable. There is a dinner party scene so brilliantly staged and so exquisitely uncomfortable, I had to read it through my fingers, like watching some sort of horror movie. Books so rarely capture the sheer chaos, heartache, misery and euphoria of our twenties, effectively the internship stage of adulthood in so many ways, but this one does it effortlessly. A truly charming, moving, funny and sad novel." Keith Stuart
"Caroline O'Donoghue shines a laser beam on young adulthood, particularly the crazy intensity of those messy, beautiful friendships forged in the fires of romantic crisis. The Rachel Incident made me nostalgic for my early twenties. But even more than that, it made me wish I could go back and hug the person I was back then and tell her she'll be okay." Lauren Fox
"Capturing the madness and intensity of early 20-something life, with the added complications of the restrictions of Catholic Ireland, this joyful, passionate story from the author of Promising Young Women is at times spit-out-your-tea funny - and always a bittersweet delight." Bookseller, Editor's Choice
"I can't explain the sheer unadulterated glee of reading this. It's so good and absorbing and funny and honest and horny. And when I finished, I was bereft ... O'Donoghue's observant, incredibly smart writing and character work and story are just the peak of modern fiction for me right now." Lizzie Huxley-Jones
"An absolute pleasure is the only way I can describe the sensation of losing myself in this ceaselessly charming, vulnerable, atmospheric story of human connection and self-discovery. Fans of Sally Rooney and Coco Mellors will delight in the cozy Irish vibes and glimmering voice of Caroline O'Donoghue." Amanda Montell
"Completely engrossing, intensely intimate, full of wry wit and hard-learned insights about finding friends and holding on to love. I'm struggling to think of a single person I know who wouldn't love this book." Matthew Parker
"An amusing coming-of-age saga -- Ones to Watch" Sunday Independent
"A sensational new entry in the burgeoning millennial-novel genre." Kirkus Reviews (Starred)
"It's funny and nostalgic and the sex scenes are actually sexy ... it's everything I want from a summer book" Monica Heisey
"If you've ever built your life and your personality around a friend; if you've ever loved the wrong person, or the right person at the wrong time... In short, if you've ever been young, you will love The Rachel Incident like I did" Gabrielle Zevin
"Caroline O'Donoghue, where have you been all my life? The Rachel Incident is a transportive joy, a superhighway to young friendship. Big-hearted, witty and expertly crafted - I want to live inside this book" Sloane Crosley
"I didn't know books could be this hilarious. The Rachel Incident is so warm and comforting, and the characters so real. I can't believe Rachel and James aren't people that I know -- I care about them so deeply!" Annie Lord
"I really loved this book. It was gentle yet compelling and I was truly rooting for each character, even the ones I didn't like. Caroline has a talent for writing complex characters with humour and tact. The Rachel Incident kept me guessing while feeling deeply comforted the whole way through" Emer McLysaght
"A gripping story, beautifully written, with an expertly woven plot, packed with charm and suspense that sneaks up on you and leaves you rooting for the characters and gasping for more. A masterful, mesmerising tale of the joy of obsessive and consuming friendship, the secrets that bind us, and the damage we can't help but inflict on the ones we love the most" Justin Myers
"The Rachel Incident worked its way under my skin and into my heart and has stayed there for months. It's such a beautifully observed, open-hearted, clever, horny, desperately funny, joy of a book. It captures, with unique eloquence, those years in our early twenties when every feeling reveals an exposed nerve, when every small event is tragedy or ecstasy, when we're trying to shape, and reshape (and reshape again), who it is we want to become. I adored it" Kate Young