The Alarming Palsy of James Orr

Description

'In this disquieting novel, Lee explores how briskly the pleasures that we take for granted can vanish ... Lee's writing pulses with humour and an appreciation of the abject silliness of human beings ... He writes with a needle, and with a short-story master's eye for structure.' - Guardian James Orr - husband, father, reliable employee and all round model citizen - wakes one morning to find himself quite transformed. There's no way he can go into the office, and the doctors aren't able to help. Waiting for the affliction to pass, he wanders the uniform streets and manicured lawns of his perfect suburban home. But there are cracks in the veneer. And it seems that in James himself there was only ever the thinnest of lines holding the monstrous at bay. The story of an everyday man who as become inexplicable to himself, The Alarming Palsy of James Orr introduces a writer of stupendous and disturbing talents.

Tom Lee's writing has appeared in the Sunday Times, Esquire and Prospect in the UK, the Dublin Review in Ireland and in Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope All Story in the United States, among others. In 2012 he was shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. He currently teaches undergraduate and postgraduate creative writing at Goldsmiths College.