Oisín McKenna's debut novel 'Hitzetage' explores modern love and social tensions in heatwave-stricken London

Oisín McKenna's debut novel 'Hitzetage' (Heat Days) presents London as a city suspended between promise and overwhelming pressure. The narrative unfolds during an extreme heatwave in July 2023, using a stranded whale in the Thames as a disorienting opening image that immediately raises questions about contemporary urban existence. Rather than focusing on dramatic plot twists, McKenna examines states of being—conversations that falter, prolonged glances, and relationships that shift rather than clearly begin or end. The novel illuminates how modern love functions within a social framework shaped by class and economic disparities. Bodies press too close together in the oppressive heat, while intimate conversations emerge with unexpected speed. McKenna's shimmering debut captures London in a state of exception, where the heat hangs between buildings and social tensions simmer beneath the surface. The work explores how people navigate a city that simultaneously offers opportunity and creates unbearable strain. Published in the current issue of Freitag, the novel presents a portrait of urban life where personal connections develop through subtle displacements rather than conventional narratives.