Description

WINNER OF THE JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE FOR FICTION 2022
‘Remarkable’ – Colm Toibin, 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

Publisher Review

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 Toibin Like Finnegans Wake, only readable. * The Times * Ingeniously slippery . . . an expertly constructed house of mirrors -- Lucy Scholes * New York Times Book Review * A sultry, steamy shock of a novel . . . a provocative collection of nine interlinked stories, jostled together like neighbours on a London street or regulars in a pub, which is where most of his characters cross paths * The Spectator * 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 -- Sinead Gleeson Endlessly interesting -- Anthony Cummins * The Observer * 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 Shock is a meticulously crafted diorama * Vanity Fair * A great and generous book, an incomparable achievement -- Richard Beard Simply imagine being as good at anything as Keith Ridgway is at writing -- Nicole Flattery on Keith Ridgway Readers are instantly involved in the action of Ridgway's worlds, the characters he writes with great compassion and clarity, and always with an awareness of the fuzziness of being alive -- Sarah Gilmartin * Irish Times * Flows over with invention and imagination -- John Self * The Irish Times * In this playful yet deeply sincere novel, Ridgway squeezes into the gaps of realism and makes something beautifully new * Guardian * A Shock is a perfect, living circle of beauty and mystery; clear-sighted and compassionate, and, at times, wonderfully funny. The radiance and vitality of the writing, and its, frankly amazing, control and precision, reminded me of Henry Green but with a warmth and reflective quality that deserves to reach many readers -- David Hayden Like Lewis Carroll or Muriel Spark, the author is not content with the normal measly amount of dimensions: he goes in for bewitchment as a narrative art -- Barbara Epler * TANK Magazine * A Shock is an experiment that pays off: deeply funny, in a morose sort of way, oblique but never frustrating; and with a realism in dialogue that lends its characters depth and reliability * Business Post * Superb . . . Elizabeth Strout meets Bret Easton Ellis * Sunday Times Ireland on Hawthorn & Child * A Shock, Keith Ridgway's mesmerizing new novel-in-stories, portrays a London on the edge of the edge, precarious, strange and enthralling. Haunting each other and life itself, these characters and their stories will haunt you too! -- John Keene A masterful polyphonous portrait of modern London * Literary Review * Profane, god-dappled, transcendent, even gently poetic and funny - all those things at once -- Rivka Galchen This modern look at (dis)connection is stunning, in all its story parts, and as a whole, it's a brilliant mind fuck. Political, pertinent, spunky and funny, A Shock is a grand sweep of modern storytelling. Hold out for the mice . . . -- June Caldwell Often hilarious, sometimes scary, always fearlessly assured. Each chapter is an intimate snapshot, a peek through the window into the life of one of the loosely linked characters living in one area of London . . . these characters vibrate at a frequency that we can all hear, feel, taste and see . . . Ridgway provides a crystal clear shot of grief, loss and loneliness * Irish Independent * There is a canny empathy running through A Shock. This is a masterfully crafted, highly intriguing novel that delivers the shock of its title with the slow, steady build-up of anxiety and dread that often characterizes dreams * Books Ireland * A fascinating and marvellously accomplished piece of work from a great and hugely under-rated Irish author -- Pat Carty * Hot Press * Once this novel clicks into place, its blend of the heady and the visceral is immersive and compelling * Kirkus * This novel will leave the reader with lots to think about, laugh about, cry about * Sunday Independent * Sex, lies, and drugs shape the interlocking and recursive narratives in Irish writer Ridgway's marvelous latest (after Hawthorn & Child), revolving around a set of neighbouring London houses * Publishers Weekly * A Shock is a provocative collection of nine interlinked stories, set in south London's sultry streets. In writing about characters many would overlook, Ridgway reminds us that everyone has a story * The i *