Product Description
In September 1984, a bomb was planted at the Grand Hotel in the seaside town of Brighton, England, set to explode in twenty-four days when the British prime minister and her entire cabinet would be staying there. High Dive not only takes us inside this audacious assassination attempt—a decisive act of violence on the world stage—but also imagines its way into a group of unforgettable characters. Nimbly weaving together fact and fiction, comedy and tragedy, the story switches among the perspectives of Dan, a young IRA explosives expert; Moose, a former star athlete gone to seed, who is now the deputy hotel manager; and Freya, his teenage daughter, trying to decide what comes after high school. Over the course of a mere four weeks, as the prime minister’s arrival draws closer, each of their lives will be transformed forever.
Reviews/Praise
"A bold, thrilling triumph of a book." —Ta Obreht, author of The Tigers Wife
"High Dive is a fascinating look into a troubled past. In taut scene after taut scene, with a fine style and wit among the carnage, Jonathan Lee does service to history and the novel both." —Joshua Ferris, author of Then We Came To The End
"High Dive is a novel so smart and compassionate and beautifully written that it asks for total immersion." —Lauren Groff, author of Fates & Furies
"Jonathan Lee is a virtuoso storyteller, combining the skills of a historian, a reporter, a criminal psychologist, and most importantly, a close observer of the complexity of everyday life. What a thrilling new novel." —Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
"A completely absorbing novel about the lives of people who struggle in small and massive ways." —Evie Wyld, author of All The Birds, Singing
"Lee is a writer of stylish concision, humour, wisdom and danger" —Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins
"High Dive is both wistful and very funny. It is also genuinely lyrical. But more than anything, what distinguishes it from so many other novels is its rare sincerity." —Alexander Maksik, author of A Marker To Measure Drift