"James Orr - husband, father, employee and all round model citizen - wakes one morning to find one side of his face paralysed, and his life takes an abrupt and unexpected turn. Unable to work he spends the long days on the idyllic estate where he lives, walking in the woods and brooding on his affliction. The doctors do not seem able to help. His wife has become inscrutable and his children are growing up too fast. Elsewhere on the estate, there are reports of teenagers meeting in cars at night to have sex and a man seems to be living rough in the woods. On top of this, James' manager is no longer returning his calls. And then there is the neighbours' enormous dog to deal with...Comedy, tragedy or satire, or all three, The Alarming Palsy of James Orr is the story of a man who has become inexplicable to himself, and introduces reader to a writer of stupendous and disturbing talents."--Publisher.