Richard
Ben Myers
07 October 2011
9780330517041Synopsis
In February 1995, Richey Edwards checked out of a London hotel instead of flying to the US with the rest of the Manic Street Preachers. There were a few subsequent sightings but then nothing. His body was never found, and he was declared legally dead in November 2008. Now Richard tells the story of his life – and disappearance – as he might have told it.
‘This moving, tender novel tells the story of a lost boy adrift in a world that he can’t make sense of’ Marie Claire
‘Myers deserves credit not only for adding a third dimension to Edwards, but for trying a fourth, for attempting to document a period of his life that seems destined to remain a mystery’ The Times
‘A sympathetic and sad imagining of the boy who became a reluctant pop idol’ Time Out
‘Harrowing and hauntingly sad’ Mojo
'What is sure is Myers' skill for storytelling; the absence of any cynicism, a certain hypnotic meditative pace he successfully employs that draws you in as the novel progresses and a mood of melancholic nostalgia, a tantalising nostalgia for a time not long passed but gone forever' 3:AM Magazine
'A novel for our celebrity-obsessed age, a thorough investigation - written in beautiful prose - of a young man suicided or disappeared by society. From life in a small town to sex, drugs and rock and roll excess, Ben Myers' Richard slashes and burns its way through the bloated beigeness of the contemporary British novel' Bookmunch.com
'It's not uncommon to hear someone say something to the effect of, “There’s no such thing as a good rock and roll novel” - the next time you hear someone say this, point them towards this book' Bookslut
