Richard: A Novel
Richard: A Novel is a book by English author and journalist Ben Myers about musician Richey Edwards. Edwards, who suffered from depression, alcoholism, anorexia and self-harm, disappeared on 1 February 1995 at the age of 27 and was declared officially presumed dead on 23 November 2008. Richard was published by Picador and was released on 1 October 2010. On his blog on 28 May 2010, Myers noted that Picador ran a Twitter-based competition to win an advance bound proof copy of Richard, and that an advance bound proof copy of the novel had been put up for auction on eBay. Plot Richard comprises two narratives. One is from Richey's first-person point of view, beginning with his departure from his London Hotel on 1 February 1995, and covering his thoughts, movements and encounters from this point onwards. The second narrative strand is a second-person point of view, running through Richey's childhood, school, university, career with the Manic Street Preachers, and physical/emotional breakdown. This second narrative strand eventually reaches the point at which the first narrative strand began, converging both narratives. Background In an interview in May 2010, Myers said, "I wrote this book for people who have never heard of Richey