Synopsis
WINNER OF THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR FICTION 2022
‘Remarkable' - Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn
'Like Finnegans Wake, only readable' - The Times
In A Shock, a clutch of more or less loosely connected characters appear, disappear and reappear. They are all of them on the fringes of London life, often clinging on – to sanity, solvency or a story – by their fingertips. With this deftly conjured high-wire act, Ridgway achieves a fine balance between drama and fidelity to his characters. The result is pin-sharp and breathtaking.
Book of the Year Selection in the Guardian, New York Times, Spectator, Hot Press and The White Review
Shortlisted for The Goldsmiths Prize
Details
Reviews
“Keith Ridgway offers his London a luminous glow, but his competing narratives are also rooted in a real place, with a remarkable sense of character and the shifting systems that make up his contemporary urban space
”Colm Tóibín
“Keith Ridgway's gifts as a writer are many: his complex, vivid characters, his ability to create a humane and tender cityscape in an unfeeling metropolis, and to dig into our fallibilities and desires with such humour and compassion”Sinéad Gleeson
“Keith Ridgway is an incredible writer and A Shock is a wonder . . . There were times, reading this book, that I never wanted it to end”Chris Power, author of Mothers
“A great and generous book, an incomparable achievement”Richard Beard
