'My life is different now. I don't go to work. I don't have an office. I stay at home, hide behind curtains and make notes. I wait for something to happen.'
Gordon Kingdom struggles with the fate of his seriously-ill wife while patiently observing and methodically recording the lives of those around him: his neighbours.
He has files on them all, including Don Donald (best friend and petty thief), Annie Carnaffan (lives next door, throws footballs over the fence), and Benny (the boy who paints with his eyes closed).
Then there's Angelica, the new girl (42) on the street, with her multi-coloured toenails and her filthy temper. It's when she arrives that Gordon's world of half-truths really begins to unravel.
Faced with a series of unexpected events and a faltering conscience, he's left with an impossible decision. Because in the banality of everyday life, what would you do if the unthinkable happened? Note from the author:
A is for Angelica is contemporary literary fiction.
The premise, avoiding spoilers, is that Gordon Kingdom, the lead character and narrator, struggles to cope with his wife having had her second stroke in 18 months. It doesn't help that he decides to keep it a secret, believing he can care for her himself. And that he's preoccupied with Benny, the boy across the road who paints with his eyes closed, and Angelica, the woman who moves into the house opposite. Eventually, something has to give.
I started writing Angelica during my time on Sheffield Hallam University's MA Writing programme. It's the culmination of several years' work and research. People always ask if someone close to me has suffered from stroke, and fortunately that's not the case. I chose to write about it because I wanted to explore the way that people cope (or fail to cope) with the sense of loss that comes with serious illness.
Essentially, A is for Angelica is a novel about people in impossible situations and how they react to them. It's about how we all react when we don't know what to do. There are places where you're supposed to laugh. There are places where you're supposed to cry. I loved the writing. I hope you enjoy the reading.
Gordon Kingdom struggles with the fate of his seriously-ill wife while patiently observing and methodically recording the lives of those around him: his neighbours.
He has files on them all, including Don Donald (best friend and petty thief), Annie Carnaffan (lives next door, throws footballs over the fence), and Benny (the boy who paints with his eyes closed).
Then there's Angelica, the new girl (42) on the street, with her multi-coloured toenails and her filthy temper. It's when she arrives that Gordon's world of half-truths really begins to unravel.
Faced with a series of unexpected events and a faltering conscience, he's left with an impossible decision. Because in the banality of everyday life, what would you do if the unthinkable happened? Note from the author:
A is for Angelica is contemporary literary fiction.
The premise, avoiding spoilers, is that Gordon Kingdom, the lead character and narrator, struggles to cope with his wife having had her second stroke in 18 months. It doesn't help that he decides to keep it a secret, believing he can care for her himself. And that he's preoccupied with Benny, the boy across the road who paints with his eyes closed, and Angelica, the woman who moves into the house opposite. Eventually, something has to give.
I started writing Angelica during my time on Sheffield Hallam University's MA Writing programme. It's the culmination of several years' work and research. People always ask if someone close to me has suffered from stroke, and fortunately that's not the case. I chose to write about it because I wanted to explore the way that people cope (or fail to cope) with the sense of loss that comes with serious illness.
Essentially, A is for Angelica is a novel about people in impossible situations and how they react to them. It's about how we all react when we don't know what to do. There are places where you're supposed to laugh. There are places where you're supposed to cry. I loved the writing. I hope you enjoy the reading.
