Kala, Colin Walsh
It’s summer 2003. Helen, Joe and Mush, three friends from the seaside town of Kinlough Ireland, meet the mysterious yet magnetic Kala. Later that year, Kala disappears without a trace. Fast forward 15 years and the now estranged group reunite, just as human remains are discovered in the woods and the disappearance of two more teenage girls wreaks havoc on the town.
It’s hard to believe this is Colin Walsh’s debut novel; it’s a complete page turner from start to finish, despite it reaching almost 500 pages. As a reader, we jump between two timelines, enabling Walsh to capture the euphoric, reckless urgency of teenage summers that disappear in the blink of an eye whilst reminding us of the painful nostalgic memories that can keep their grip throughout adulthood.
For a novel with a large cast and multiple points of view, Walsh’s depth of characterisation is unparalleled to anything I have read in recent years. Each character is rich and real and Kinlough, the backdrop to this mystery, feels as much of a character as the humans who inhabit it. Under the veil of its sweet summer guise, dark secrets are lurking in a town where nothing stays hidden forever.
Walsh is, in my opinion, one of the most exciting talents emerging in Irish literature right now – it’s little surprise Kala won the Irish Book Award for Newcomer of the Year. I’ll be eagerly (and slightly impatiently) anticipating what he produces next!
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