$38.00
20 in stock
20 in stock
It’s time. Mary, an ex cop, and her husband, retired librarian Pete, have decided to move into a retirement village. They aren’t falling apart, but they’re watching each other – Pete with his tachcychardia and bad hip, Mary with her ankle and knee.
Selling their beloved house should be a clean break, but it’s as if the people they have lost keep returning to ask new things of them. A local detective calls with new information about the case of their son, Will, who was killed in an accident forty years before. Mary finds herself drawn to consider her older sister’s shortened life. Pete is increasingly haunted by memories of his late mother, who developed
delirium and never recovered.
An emotionally powerful novel about families and ageing, Delirious dramatises the questions we will all face, if we’re lucky, or unlucky, enough. How to care for others? How to meet the new versions of ourselves who might arrive? How to cope? Delirious is also about the surprising ways second chances come around.
‘A New Zealand novel of grace and humanity. How does Wilkins do it? These are flawed and immensely satisfying characters – you close your eyes at the faulty, circuitous routes they take. Delirious is a marvel of a book.’ -Witi Ihimaera
Format: Paperback
Pages: 312
Imprint: Te Herenga Waka University Press
Publication date: 10/10/2024
Delirious
By Damien Wilkins
Review by Bel
Mary and Pete are selling their home and moving to a retirement village, when a call out of the blue sheds new light on their young son's accidental death 40 years prior. Unmoored and confronted, they must try to reconcile their past, present and future all at once.
Here is an old relationship – with its own particular logic, rhythms and quirks – carefully balanced on years of rubbing along together, with all the loyalty, support, frustration, allowances, understanding, withholding and forgiveness that requires. It is at once familiar, and a completely foreign country.
I love a character-driven novel, and Wilkins is so adept at creating a cast that feels complex, relatable and easy to love. Mary and Pete are just two of this novel’s many marvellous creations – and I miss them all. Wilkins has great respect for these characters, treating their most vulnerable moments with grace and dignity. This creates an easy intimacy for the reader as we watch them fumble stoically through life's challenges. There’s great sadness, but it’s balanced with humour and warmth.
A beautifully tender, humane novel with universal themes and a distinctly Kiwi flavour. I've read it twice now and loved it both times. Highly recommended.
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