Author(s): Harriet Paige

Novel

Description: Under the intense summer sun on the Essex coast a gull falls from the sky and strikes an unassuming local council worker sitting on the beach below. From that moment on he is obsessed, a crazed visionary repeatedly depicting the scene and the unknown figure within in it which filled his view at the moment of impact. The mysterious beauty of his creations draw others to him but can they lay hold of that which possess him? And what of his anonymous muse?

Review: 'Acutely observed and generously imagined, this portrait of an accidental artist is as surprising as it is enthralling. It gripped me from the first page. Its last lines are still with me, shimmering with wise promise.' Maureen Freely;`A precious and strange thing. A bona fide gem. A book that would be a credit to any short list.' The Guardian.

Prizes: Short-listed for The Guardian's NOT THE BOOKER 2017.

Author Biography: Harriet Paige was born in 1979 and grew up in Devon. She lives in East London with her husband and three children. Man with a Seagull on his head is her debut novel.