A is for Angelica
by Iain Broome
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Pub Date 1 Sep 2012 | Archive Date 8 May 2014
Description
Blurb
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)
- Benny (the boy who paints with his eyes closed).
And 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?
Advance Praise
'A first novel that confidently moves from dark comedy that’s genuinely funny to even darker despair that grows from moving to harrowing. Really impressive.' - Daily Mail
‘An oddly addictive and often hilarious read... Presented in uncomplicated, unembellished prose, this is a brilliant and adeptly written debut novel, loaded with poignancy and feeling.’ – Time Out
‘A is for Angelica and MF is for meticulously funny. It will make you laugh out loud and feel guilty about it afterwards.’ - Simon Crump
'If you don't laugh and cry over A is for Angelica in almost equal measures then bears don't deposit their personal waste in wooded areas and I'll only read this book once.' - The Bookbag
Marketing Plan
Iain Broome is 31 years old and lives in Sheffield. A graduate of Sheffield Hallam’s MA Writing programme, he has edited literary magazines, co-run a successful monthly spoken word event and currently maintains a popular website and podcast about writing. Iain’s first novel is A is for Angelica.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Ebook |
| ISBN | 9781908775986 |
| PRICE | £7.99 (GBP) |
Featured Reviews
Mandy J, Reviewer
This accomplished and haunting first novel tells of middle-aged Gordon Kingdom who lives an ordinary life on an ordinary street with his much-loved wife Georgina and dog Kipling. But his routine existence is thrown into disarray when illness presents him with a situation that is beyond his capabilities, try as he might to do the right thing. I don’t want to go into the plot any more than that, because one of this fantastic novel’s greatest strengths is the controlled way that Broome gradually reveals to the reader exactly what’s going on in Gordon’s head and life. Deftly plotted, this original and deeply moving portrait of a quietly desperate man, an unreliable narrator par excellence, is powerful and heart-breaking. With some dark humour and much compassion, this is quite simply a wonderful book, which will remain with me for a long time.
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