Electricity - Softcover

Robinson, Ray

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802170358 ISBN 13: 9780802170354

Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat, 2007

Synopsis

Ray Robinson’s visceral, ambitious debut novel Electricity is a tour de force portrayal of a heroine you will not soon forget. Thirty-year-old Lily O’Connor lives with epilepsy, uncontrollable surges of electricity that leave her in a constant state of edginess. Prickly, up-front-honest and down-to-earth practical, Lily has learned to make do, to make the most of things, to look after  and out for  herself. Then her mother  whom Lily has not seen for years  dies, and Lily is drawn back into a world she thought she’d long since left behind. Reunited with her brother, a charismatic poker player, Lily pursues her own high-stakes gamble, leaving for London to track down her other, missing brother Mikey. In the pandemonium of the city, Lily’s seizures only intensify. As her journey takes her from her comfort zone, it leads her into the question of what her life is meant to be.

About this title

Review:

"Fast, furious plot, kaleidoscopic Imagery, blunt observations and a wry, ingenuous, hugely compassionate heroine make Electricity a breathtaking assault on the senses." -- Catherine Taylor

"A thorny, uncompromising novel, with attitude. It is also, thanks to Lily O'Connor--its sharp-edged, hard-living, tough-talking narrator--mesmerizing, uplifting, and unexpectedly tender." -- Jim Crace

"As a neurologist, I was astonished by how vividly Ray Robinson portrays one woman's struggle with epilepsy, and the way it affected her already difficult life and the perceptions of those around her. As a reader, I was deeply moved by his young heroine's determination to live life as big as she can. This is a story of risk and redemption and is moving, disturbing, and inspirational at the same time." -- Carl W. Bazil, M.D., Ph.D.

"A quest, narrated in Lily's engagingly unsentimental voice . . . Hallucinatory flashbacks, downward-counting chapter numbering, pages of jagged typography, Icons of Lily's pills showing time passing, are used to illustrate the way Lily's fits shape her life and perceptions. Hours and days vanish, and have to be reconstructed from the unreliable accounts of others. . . . Electricity is a powerful, passionate, and informative book." -- Roly Allen

From the Author:

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Birthplace: Northallerton, North Yorkshire, October 9th 1971.

After leaving Harrogate College of Arts where I studied fine art, photography, art history and graphic design, I did a BA in Graphic Design at Liverpool School of Arts, where I specialised in typography and book design.
After leaving Liverpool in 1994 I spent many years travelling and teaching English in Spain, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Sweden. I wrote a lot of poetry and short stories during this period and had some accepted for publication in Europe and the USA.

I came back to the UK in 1998 and was accepted onto the MA in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. I graduated with highest distinction and secured my first agent.
I then spent three years working on my first novel (The Boy With the Thorn in His Side). The novel created a lot of interest (including interest from Paramount Films, New York) but it was never accepted. During this period I worked full-time managing a development centre for people with physical disabilities for the charity SCOPE. I also started teaching creative writing part-time to undergraduates at Lancaster University.

In 2003 I started my Ph.D. in Creative Writing at Lancaster; I won the Phillip Good Memorial Prize for my short story ‘Cut’; I also won the Lancaster Research Studentship Award and secured myself a new agent – David Higham Associates – and in 2005 Picador accepted my second novel, Electricity, for publication.

I am currently an Associate Lecturer and Specialist Tutor for the Open University, and have recently been awarded an Arts Council grant to work on my third novel, Killing Cleopatra.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0802170358
• ISBN 13: 9780802170354
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368