Fate dealt to Daryl from the bottom of the deck. During pregnancy, his mother took a common prescription drug that doomed him to a life without arms. But streetwise Daryl's a fighter - self-styled Thalidomide Kid superhero at heart - and he's sworn to play his rogue cards against all the odds. Kate Rigby's gritty novel follows him through a bittersweet journey of fear and determination, failure and conquest, blind prejudice . and forbidden love. For the first time in a work of fiction, Rigby lifts a corner of the veil to reveal the cruel and uncomfortable face of the thalidomide horror that crippled a generation. Thalidomide produced suicides and heroes. Daryl is a special case. You'll never forget him. Kate Rigby bravely presents grim reality in a story that pitches full-bodied spirit against seemingly insurmountable physical inadequacy.
Kate Rigby has been writing for over thirty years. She realized her unhip credentials were mounting so decided to write about it.
However she's not completely unhip. Her punk novel, Fall Of The Flamingo Circus was published by Allison & Busby (1990) and by Villard (American hardback 1990). Skrev Press published her novels Seaview Terrace (2003) Sucka! (2004) and Break Point (2006) and other shorter work has appeared in Skrev's avant garde magazine Texts' Bones including a version of her satirical novella Lost The Plot.
Thalidomide Kid was published by Bewrite Books (2007).
She has had other short stories published and shortlisted including Hard Workers and Headboards, first published in The Diva Book of Short Stories and now published as part of the Dancing In The Dark erotic anthology (Pfoxmoor 2011).
She also received a Southern Arts bursary for her novel Where A Shadow Played.
Her latest book Little Guide to Unhip is published by Night Publishing.
Titles now available on Kindle and other e-books are:
Little Guide to Unhip
Thalidomide Kid
Seaview Terrace
Break Point
Suckers n Scallies
Down The Tubes
More to appear in the future
Details about Kate's work can be found at her website:
http://kjrbooks.yolasite.com/
Or her occasional blogs can be found at:
http://bubbitybooks.blogspot.com/
