The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue: Endlessly entertaining story of early Noughties love triangle

In the opening of Caroline O’Donoghue’s new novel, the narrator tries to describe The Late Late Toy Show. “It’s a hard thing to explain to outsiders. This, in itself, is part of the appeal.” It’s a throwaway observation, but an apt way in to the novel, which centres upon another very particular and insular world: an intense friendship and love triangle in Cork city in 2009-10.