Richard Parry is a painter who cannot paint, a writer who doesn't write. His obsession is Lulu, that 'orphan off the street', his aboriginal 'green child'. But on returning from Australia to his hometown he finds it has become notorious for the suicides of young people. As Parry tries to connect past and present he is haunted by dreams of Australia and of his youth. Yet is Parry all he seems? Isn't he frankly, 'a bit creepy'? How trustworthy is memory? And what has happened to the vivacious Lulu? A meditation on age and opportunity by prizewinning poet, essayist and novelist Robert Minhinnick.

The latest book of travel essays by prize-winning writer and poet Robert Minhinnick, Island of Lightning documents his travels from his home in south Wales to locations such as Argentina, China, Finland, Iraq, New York, Lithuania, and the titular island itself, Malta. In conventional essays and leaps of imaginative narrative, the author describes the annual Elvis convention in Porthcawl, Wales; Neolithic sculptures; the cruelties of late 20th-century communism and its aftermath; rugby union; the Argentinean writer Alfonsina Storni; poets playing football; and other scenes. In doing so, he touches on several universal themes, including the relationship between man and the landscape, man and time, man and nature, immigration and war—even humankind itself. Readers will be entertained, informed, and provoked by this series of essays in which a range of subjects are examined for new perspectives and understanding.