The Electric

by Edward Hogan

'A writer of great energy and fearsome powers of observation' Hilary Mantel, TLS

Brighton, 1950s. When Daisy got married, she knew nothing of a police wife's struggles - the way secrecy and suspicion seep into the home. But over the years she finds ways to resist. She builds a fierce bond with her children, Linda and Michael, and escapes to the twilit world of the cinema.

By 1998 Linda and Michael are still struggling to cope after their mother's death, a decade before. Mike finds solace in suburban violence, while Linda invests her hopes in Lucas, her deaf teenage son. But the appearance of a man from Daisy's past threatens to upend their uneasy peace.

Meanwhile, Lucas is obsessed with his support worker, and relearning the sign language he shared with his grandmother. As the language comes back, so do memories of his early childhood. But will the truth about the events of ten years ago save his family, or destroy it?

The Electric is a brilliantly realised novel about three generations bound together by love, tragedy and the struggle to escape the past.

329 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 6, 2020

About the author

Edward Hogan’s first adult novel, Blackmoor, was short-listed for the London Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award and the Dylan Thomas prize. Daylight Saving is his first young adult novel. He lives in the U.K.

Reviews

[metellus cimber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the weirdness of some of the goings on in this family saga. People stick together even when their lives become dysfunctional, or decidedly strange. It's well written and intriguing. Some real insights to the experience of a woman living in patriarchal 1950s England which made me think about my mother and the power relationships in marriages then. The cinema/movies motif creates a telling contrast between reality and fiction. It was just very, very sad to ponder how unfulfilled most people's lives probably are - despite the strength of the bonds that bind us to one another.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book.
It's full of cinema and film references,which charmed me slightly.
Mostly though,it's the people... three generations of the same family.
Opening with what seems to be loves young dream in the country police house,and continuing on with children and grandchild.
These seemed like people you might know.. all fighting their own battles with various things.
There's a few emotional punches along the way.

Good stuff.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in Brighton in the 1950s and 1990s this novel revolves around a tragedy in the Seacombe family the repercussions of which are being felt for decades. A really thoughtful page turner which has the reader braced from the outset but actually delivers a far more insightful portrayal of how ordinary people cope with trauma and loss.

[Shell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while this one a friend gave me this book and it is not one i would have picked up usually but i liked it all the same, I loved the characters and liked how the book went back to Daisy's past then to the present. Such a shame Daisy and Paul did not take there relationship further as they both especially Daisy would of been very happy.

[Lucy Beevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! An excellent, unexpected mix of family tragedy and crime novel. Beautifully written. I couldn't put it down; kept making excuses to slip away from family to keep reading.

[Jan Schmid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of it were quite good, but some of the plot was difficult to follow and some of the twists seemed rather inexplicable.

[Rin Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

took a minute to get into but i loved the characters