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A Shock

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A Shock

By: Keith Ridgway
Narrated by: Harry Myers
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About this listen

Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction and The Goldsmiths Prize

A Guardian, New York Times, Spectator, Hot Press and White Review Book of the Year

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 or solvency or a story—by their fingertips.

Keith Ridgway, author of the acclaimed Hawthorn & Child, writes about people whose understanding of their own situation is only ever partial and fuzzy, who are consumed by emotions and anxieties and narratives, or the lack thereof, that they cannot master. He focuses on peripheral figures who mean well and to whom things happen, and happen confusingly, and his fictional strategies reflect this focus. In a deftly conjured high-wire act, Ridgway achieves the fine balance between the imperatives of drama and fidelity to his characters. The result is pin-sharp and often breathtaking.

©2021 Keith Ridgway (P)2021 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd Contemporary Contemporary Romance Fiction Genre Fiction Humorous Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Romance Comedy

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Critic reviews

"A Shock is a perfect, living circle of beauty and mystery; clear-sighted and compassionate, and, at times, wonderfully funny." (David Hayden)

"A Shock inhabits the secret life of a city, its hidden energies. It dramatizes how patterns form and then disperse, how stories are made and relationships created...remarkable." (Colm Tóibín, author of Brooklyn)

"Political, pertinent, spunky and funny, A Shock is a grand sweep of modern storytelling." (June Caldwell, author of Room Little Darker)
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All Keith Ridgway is an immediate purchase for me, and the narration by Harry Myers is an incredible performance, complements perfectly the wide perspective of the book!

Amazing narration, great book

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Best book I’ve listened to in ages. The narration sings and the stories unfold in an intimate but softly amusing way. Loved the descriptive patterns and rambling words. It reminds me so much of my own inner twittering. Lovely book!

Beautiful

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Just such a beautiful listen. Harry Myers does so much justice to the micro details of lives being lived. My first Keith Ridgeway. Now for more....

Mesmerising

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It’s boring, really struggled to get into the story or enjoy the characters. Just a load of tosh. Regret purchasing it.

The most boring book I’ve ever read

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