A Shock

"Vibrant, wonderfully written, funny and deeply troubled...  The writing is effortlessly lyrical, [venturing] into extraordinary, at times beautiful interludes of philosophical observation... Read Hawthorn & Child. Better still read it twice: it’s that real, that good, that true."

"Vibrant, wonderfully written, funny and deeply troubled...  The writing is effortlessly lyrical, [venturing] into extraordinary, at times beautiful interludes of philosophical observation... Read Hawthorn & Child. Better still read it twice: it’s that real, that good, that true."

Keith Ridgway is a Dubliner living in London. His previous novels include A Shock (winner of the 2022 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction), Hawthorn & Child, and Animals. He has also been awarded the Prix Fémina Étranger and Premier Roman Étranger, the O Henry Award, and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. His books have been acclaimed "ingeniously slippery” (Lucy Scholes, New York Times Book Review),  “bleak, hilarious, chilling and hopeful” (Louie Conway, Vanity Fair), and "like Finnegans Wake, only readable” (John Self, London Times).