Pyromaniac
A Memoir
$28.86
- Paperback
288 pages
- Release Date
2 March 2027
Summary
‘unflinching and beautifully written’ RACHEL MONROE ‘A tour de force’ J.R. THORP ‘As gripping as a thriller … Rio Matchett is such a dazzlingly funny, clever and delightful narrator’ HORATIO CLARE
Aged 18, Rio Matchett burned down a church.
She still does not know why.
Pyromaniac – the first ever published personal account from someone with the diagnosis – is Rio’s account of falling insane, being sectioned, and then incarcera…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780008767419 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0008767416 |
| Author: | Rio Matchett |
| Publisher: | HarperCollins Publishers |
| Imprint: | William Collins |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 288 |
| Release Date: | 2 March 2027 |
| Weight: | 270g |
| Dimensions: | 21mm x 153mm x 234mm |
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Critics Review
‘Pyromaniac is wise, wry, and fascinating – an unflinching and beautifully-written history of one woman’s breakdown that opens up into a story about what makes us human’
Rachel Monroe, author of Savage Appetites: True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession
‘Brilliant, bursting with power and lucid as crystal, Pyromaniac is a tour de force’
J.R. Thorp, author of Learwife
‘Fabulous! As gripping as a thriller, and absolutely captivating. Rio Matchett is such a dazzlingly funny, clever and delightful narrator, and such a warm and honest presence, that you would follow her into a fire – terrifyingly, you do. Friendship, love of people and joy in life are at the core of her story, her answers to madnesses and vulnerabilities which are part of us all. It seems extraordinary that a book about pyromania could be comforting, consoling or inspiring, but here, beautifully and piercingly explored, it is’
Horatio Clare, author of We Came by Sea
‘Fire, in Rio Matchett’s Pyromaniac, is not a metaphor, or at least not only a metaphor – it is real flames, real heat, real destruction. Rio’s writing carries that same realness, her words precise and clear in the pursuit of understanding something dangerous and true. I was deeply moved reading her memoir, both by the skill in her craft and the intensity of feeling she offers to her readers; this is a stunning book, provocative and intensely beautiful’
Haley Mlotek, author of No Fault: A Memoir of Romance and Divorce
Rio Matchett
Rio Matchett is the Joint CEO and Creative Director of Camden People’s Theatre, a fringe venue in London which seeks to support and programme the best emerging and experimental theatre in the country. She was shortlisted for the 2024 Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize and gained her PhD in literary modernism and queer theory from the University of Liverpool in 2022. She has taught at institutions including the University of Liverpool, Leeds Conservatoire and Birkbeck University of London.
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