WHEN Richard Beard was 11 years old, he suffered a family tragedy with was too traumatic for him to talk about or even think about for more than 30 years.
He and his brother Nicky, aged nine, were on a family holiday in Cornwall and playing in a cove jumping in the waves away from the family.
The tide came in and the two boys were suddenly out of their depth and being dragged out to sea, struggling to keep their heads above water.
Richard, face to face with drowning, left his brother and struck out for the beach, dragging his exhausted body on to the sand.
Speaking in a recent Sunday Times interview, he said that he made a 'conscious choice'.
'I decided to leave my brother.' Nicky drowned.
Richard started to come to terms with the tragedy and his part in it only recently by researching and writing a book which was published this year, and which he will talk about at the Guernsey Literary Festival in May.
In The Day that Went Missing, he goes in search of the truth about his brother and the detail of his death on that family holiday in 1978.
Nicky was rarely spoken of again, and Richard will discuss the making of the book and the changes in how we deal with grief.
Richard's six novels include Lazarus is Dead, Dry Bones, and Damascus, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. In the UK he has been shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award and longlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award. His latest novel, Acts of the Assassins, was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize in 2015.
His talk is on Friday 12 May at 12.30 at the Guille-Alles Library. He will also hold an Essential Editing Skills for Writers event at the Guille-Alles Library on Saturday 13 May at 2pm.
For more on the Guernsey Literary Festival and to book, go to www.guernseyliteraryfestival.com.
