Darke - Tapa dura

Rick Gekoski's impressive debut novel . . . Darke is both a tender and hard-hitting examination of grief and the slow, singular healing process . . . A brilliantly vivid creation . . . life-affirming and life-shattering * * The Herald * * Stuffed with more wisdom, bile, wit and tenderness than many writers create in a lifetime. In James Darke we have a hero as troubled and eternal as King Lear . . . And in Rick Gekoski we have a late-flowering genius of a novelist who proves it's never too late to start a glittering career in fiction * * The Times * * Makes for dark, thrilling reading . . . In James Darke, Gekoski has created a powerful, raging voice * * Spectator * * Debut delight . . . Just how this gleefully conjured misanthrope came to wall himself off from the world is the mystery at the heart of a singular first novel that evolves into a moving meditation on loss and redemption * * Mail on Sunday * * An immensely enjoyable elegy . . . done with precision and patience -- Stuart Kelly * * The Scotsman * * Surprising . . . with a warmth that is genuinely and unexpectedly moving * * Guardian * * An original and bleakly funny portrait of grief * * Economist * * A tale about a spiky and irresistibly funny retired teacher who incarcerates himself in his own house * * Sunday Times, top 50 page-turners * * I was beguiled and charmed by the vivid personality being revealed. By that, and by the fact that I couldn't stop reading. Gekoski puts words together with a sure touch and deep craftsmanship -- PHILIP PULLMAN A wondrous book with two fathers, Kingsley Amis and Dante -- SEBASTIAN BARRY

A TIMES BEST FICTION BOOK OF 2017 Dr James Darke has expelled himself from the world. He writes compulsively in his 'coming of old age' journal; he eats little, drinks and smokes a lot. Meditating on what he has lost - the loves of his life, both dead and alive - he tries to console himself with the wisdom of the great thinkers and poets, yet finds nothing but disappointment. But cracks of light appear in his carefully managed darkness; he begins to emerge from his self-imposed exile, drawn by the tender, bruised filaments of love for his daughter and grandson. Rich in ideas and feeling, Rick Gekoski's debut novel is provocative and timely. With scalding prose, ruthless intelligence and an unforgettably vivid protagonist, it faces some of the greatest, most uncomfortable questions about how we choose to live, and how to die.