Subtle, powerful writing fills the pages in this commanding and thought-provoking novel. Cleverly taking you in unexpected directions, yet encouraging reflection in every day issues, the author explores loss, death and guilt with a skilful hand. After the captivating first chapter you are suddenly left hanging as a shift in time takes you back to explain the events that have lead to this point. The tension builds as the chapters flow between the background to the story and the current moment. As linked events expand, they take on the same importance as the question invoked in the first chapter. There is a shrewd understanding of human nature on display, how death can affect people, no matter where in the world it’s experienced. This intelligent intense novel draws you in, demands your attention and when it finally lets you go, continues to flicker and snag at your consciousness.
The event that changed all of their lives happened on a Saturday afternoon in June, just minutes after Michael Turner - thinking the Nelsons' house was empty - stepped through their back door. After the sudden loss of his wife, Michael Turner moves to London and quickly develops a close friendship with the Nelson family next door. Josh, Samantha and their two young daughters seem to represent everything Michael fears he may now never have: intimacy, children, stability and a family home. Despite this, the new friendship at first seems to offer the prospect of healing, but then a catastrophic event changes everything. Michael is left bearing a burden of grief and a secret he must keep, but the truth can only be kept at bay for so long. Moving from London and New York to the deserts of Nevada, I Saw a Man is a brilliant exploration of violence, guilt and attempted redemption, written with the pace and grip of a thriller. Owen Sheers takes the reader from close observation of the domestic sphere to some of the most important questions and dilemmas of the contemporary world.
Owen Sheers has written two collections of poetry, The Blue Book and Skirrid Hill. His non-fiction includes The Dust Diaries and Calon: A Journey to the Heart of Welsh Rugby. His novel Resistance has been translated into ten languages and was made into a film in 2011. His plays include The Passion and The Two Worlds of Charlie F. He has been a NYPL Cullman Fellow, Writer in Residence for the Wordsworth Trust and Artist in Residence for the Welsh Rugby Union.
