Author(s): Paul Stanbridge

Novel | Grief | Galley Beggar Press

In My Mind To Me A Kingdom Is, the extraordinary follow-up to his prize-winning novel Forbidden Line, Paul Stanbridge tells us about remarkable things. He tells us about the plains of Doggerland, lost under the North Sea. He tells us about ancient horses, carved into chalk hillsides. He tells us about the mysteries and wonders of trees, the beauty of equations. My Mind to Me A Kingdom Is is a book bursting with knowledge. It is a novel about the joy of discovery, the beauty of the world, the rich, warm pulse of life. It is also a book about death. In 2015, Paul's brother took his own life, leaving behind pitifully few possessions and an irreducible complex of questions. In his search for answers, Paul discovers that facts can be the opposite of truth, and that to see something fully, we must sometimes look away.

In the end, sifting through a chaos of fragmentary remains - both personal and historical - Paul begins to piece together a sense of the value of living, and to understand what cannot be known.

Blending fiction and memoir, knowing and unknowing, love and loss, My Mind To Me A Kingdom Is is a heartbreaking and generous exploration of grief. A beautiful and painful tribute to Paul's brother, it stands alone.