Hawthorn & Child

Keith Ridgeway

ISBN 10: 1847085261 / ISBN 13: 9781847085269

Published by Granta Books, UK, 2012

About this Item

A UK first / first with the complete numberline 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 on the copyright page. Pristine condition. This literary detective story was shortlisted for the Irish Book award. By the author of 'The Long Falling' and 'Dooneen'. The Dublin-based author has won multiple awards and prizes.

Seller Inventory # 001763

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Hawthorn & Child
• Publisher: Granta Books, UK
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1847085261
• ISBN 13: 9781847085269
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New

About this title

Synopsis

The two protagonists of the title are mid-ranking policemen operating amongst London's criminal classes, but each is plagued by dreams of elsewhere and, in the case of Hawthorn, a nightlife of visceral intensity that sits at odds with his carefully-composed placid family mask but has the habit of spilling over into his working life as a policeman. Ridgway has much to say, through showing not telling, about male violence, crowd psychology, the borders between play and abuse, and the motivations of policemen and criminals. But this is no humdrum crime novel. Ridgway is writing about people whose understanding of their own situations is only partial and fuzzy, who are consumed by emotions and motivations and narratives, or the lack thereof, that they cannot master. He focuses on peripheral figures to whom things happen, and happen confusingly, and his fictional strategies reflect this focus, so that his fictions themselves have an air of incompleteness and frustration about them. It's a high-wire act for a novelist but one that commands attention and provokes the dropping of jaws.

About the Author

Keith Ridgway is a Dubliner and the author of the novels The Long Falling, The Parts and Animals, as well as the collection of stories Standard Time and the novella Horses. His books have won awards and acclaim in Ireland and internationally and are translated widely. He lived in North London for eleven years. He now lives somewhere else.