The Reactor

A fresh, inventive memoir about about loss and finding chain reactions between everything we see, hear and experience... The Reactor captures all of grief's messy tangles.

A crystalline, inventive account of loss from a thrilling young literary talent - and a journey through grief's destructive and creative possibilities.

'One of the finest accounts of the mysterious workings of grief I have ever read.' Helen Macdonald
'Completely compelling.' Olivia Laing
'Read it with awe and sorrow.' Fatima Bhutto

After the sudden death of his father, Nick Blackburn embarks on a singular, labyrinthine journey to understand his loss. How do you create an existence when all you can see is a void?

The Reactor is a memoir about absence and creative possibilities, assembled like the pieces of a puzzle. Through philosophy, music, fashion, psychology, art and film, Blackburn travels a vast panorama of ideas and characters to offer an entirely new exploration of grief. This is a book about looking for and finding chain reactions and human connection - a work of enduring fragmentary beauty.