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.

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.

In an interview in May 2010, Myers said, "I wrote this book for people who have never heard of Richey Edwards, and I thought his story was one that had not been told in a manner befitting his life ... I wanted to get beyond that false perception and tell the story of an intelligent young academic from a good home with good friends around him who became the most engaging British rock star of his era. To do that I felt that fiction was the best medium. I don’t purport Richard to be the absolute truth, but rather a version of it." Myers also said that although he never met Edwards, he "shared many mutual friends or acquaintances with him ... I hope the book is sensitively handled. I also spent months researching it too, so factually it's pretty tight, I think." According to Myers, the book's first draft took six months to write, and went through another six to nine months of edits between himself and his editor at Picador. Myers also said that "many months before the book was even published, Brad Pitt's production company in Los Angeles got in touch to request a copy with a view to adapting it into a film. That wasn't a moment of joy though – more one of mirth. Imagine a Hollywood version of a very Welsh story... well, it's unthinkable, isn't it?"

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