Richard: The Mystery of the Manic Street Preachers

In February 1995, Richey Edwards checked out of a London hotel instead of flying to the US with the rest of the Manic Street Preachers. There were a few subsequent sightings but then nothing. His body was never found, and he was declared legally dead in November 2008. Now Richard tells the story of his life – and disappearance – as he might have told it. 'This moving, tender novel tells the story of a lost boy adrift in a world that he can't make sense of' Marie Claire 'Myers deserves credit not only for adding a third dimension to Edwards, but for trying a fourth, for attempting to document a period of his life that seems destined to remain a mystery' The Times 'A sympathetic and sad imagining of the boy who became a reluctant pop idol' Time Out 'Harrowing and hauntingly sad' Mojo Set in the 1980s and 90s, in Cardiff, London and America, "Richard" tells the story of Richard Edwards as he might have told it. A story of hope and despair in equal measure, it's an account of an unhappy young man who'll try anything and everything to get some peace from the voice in his head that tells him he's useless, that he'd be better off dead. He drinks, takes risks and drugs both, and even cuts himself sometimes, because physical pain can be easier to bear than emotional. He can't play a musical instrument, but that doesn't stop him from joining a band - and as that band becomes more and more successful (record deals and interviews in the music press; national and international tours, and managers who seem to have bottomless pockets), it seems he might just be okay after all. But the demons that nag at him won't be easily assuaged, and ultimately, he has to decide whether or not he has a future. The story of a band looking to make it big and a young, troubled soul looking just to make it through the night, "Richard" marks the arrival of a dazzling new talent