Roger Hyams & Albyn Leah Hall

What if someone you knew and loved changed overnight?

It is 1974 and teenagers Ellie and Colin are all set for adulthood; he a budding photographer, she a talented classical musician – until Ellie suffers a sudden psychotic episode which changes the shape of the whole family and the futures they had imagined.

In this conversation we will discuss the book and some questions which arise from it:

Can we ever know what causes a psychotic episode?

How do you grieve the person you thought you knew?

The novel begins in the 1970s: have we moved on since then?

Albyn Leah Hall is a published novelist and psychotherapist.

Roger Hyams is a writer, filmmaker, teacher and script editor. The Lightman System is his first novel.

“A superb novel – beautifully, beautifully written and with such heart-breaking truth and insight. Time is both cruel and kind, chance is more cruel than kind, and trying to defeat both is hard. This novel is a supreme example of how fiction can tell this story.” – Stephen Fry