Richard Price

A masterclass in atmospheric suspense and domestic uneaseIt begins as an ordinary day of frayed nerves and suburban fractiousness. Following a sharp argument with his wife, Graham sets out across London with his young daughter, Jasmine. It is a journey born of a need for space – on the surface, a simple drive to clear the air. But as they move through the city, the familiar begins to feel inexplicably foreign. The motorways are tightening. The air is changing. On every screen, in every shop window, a recurring image of a remote island haunts the broadcast – an image that pulls Graham back toward a childhood he has tried to outrun. As the horizon darkens and the path home becomes increasingly uncertain, Graham is forced to navigate the shifting boundary between a father’s protective instinct and a world that is rapidly losing its grip on the known. The Island is a devastatingly controlled novella from one of the UK’s finest poets. It is a story of what remains when the structures of the everyday fall away: the memories we cannot escape, and the desperate, quiet love between a father and his child.

'An engrossing read' Mail on Sunday'An atmospheric novel with the trappings of crime fiction' Spectator'Both a hymn to community, and a love letter to the city' The i paperIn this electrifying novel, Richard Price, the author of Clockers and a writer on The Wire, gives us razor-sharp anatomy of an ever-changing Harlem. Harlem, 2008. In an instant, a five-story tenement collapses into a fuming hill of rubble, crushing the cars parked in front and coating the street with a thick layer of ash. As the city's rescue services and media outlets respond, the surrounding neighbourhood descends into chaos. At day's end, six bodies are recovered, and many more tenants are still missing. Anthony Carter--whose miraculous survival, after being buried for days beneath tons of brick and stone, transforms him into a man with a message and a passionate sense of mission. Felix Pearl--a young transplant to the city, whose photography and film work that day provokes in this previously unformed soul a sharp sense of personal destiny. Royal Davis--owner of a failing Harlem funeral home, whose desperate trolling of the scene for potential "customers" triggers a quest to find another path in life. And Mary Roe--a veteran city detective who, driven in part by her own family's brutal history, becomes obsessed with finding Christopher Diaz, one of the building's missing. Powerful and gripping, Lazarus Man depicts intertwining portraits of a group of compelling characters whose lives are permanently impacted by the disaster, from one of the greatest chroniclers of life in urban America.

'An engrossing read' Mail on SundayIn this electrifying novel, Richard Price, the author of Clockers and a writer on The Wire, gives us razor-sharp anatomy of an ever-changing Harlem. In Lazarus Man, Richard Price, one of the greatest chroniclers of life in urban America, creates intertwining portraits of a group of compelling and singular characters whose lives are permanently impacted by the disaster. East Harlem, 2008. In an instant, a five-story tenement collapses into a fuming hill of rubble, pancaking the cars parked in front and coating the street with a thick layer of ash. As the city's rescue services and media outlets respond, the surrounding neighborhood descends into chaos. At day's end, six bodies are recovered, but many of the other tenants are missing. Anthony Carter--whose miraculous survival, after being buried for days beneath tons of brick and stone, transforms him into a man with a message and a passionate sense of mission. Felix Pearl--a young transplant to the city, whose photography and film work that day provokes in this previously unformed soul a sharp sense of personal destiny. Royal Davis--owner of a failing Harlem funeral home, whose desperate trolling of the scene for potential "customers" triggers a quest to find another path in life. And Mary Roe--a veteran city detective who, driven in part by her own family's brutal history, becomes obsessed with finding Christopher Diaz, one of the building's missing. Price, the bestselling author of Lush Life and, most recently, The Whites, has created a bravura portrait of a community on the edge of disintegration. Rich with indelible characters and high drama, Lazarus Man is a riveting work of suspense and social vision by one of our major writers.