{"product_id":"delirious-damien-wilkins","title":"Delirious - Damien Wilkins","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWinner of the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2025 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eNewsroom\u003c\/em\u003e's Best Book of 2024\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt’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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSelling 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAn emotionally powerful novel about families and ageing, \u003cem\u003eDelirious\u003c\/em\u003e 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? \u003cem\u003eDelirious\u003c\/em\u003e is also about the surprising ways second chances come around.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat People Are Saying - \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e'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. \u003cem\u003eDelirious\u003c\/em\u003e is a marvel of a book.’ —Witi Ihimaera\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"\u003e'This is just a beautifully powerful, wonderful book.' —Pip Adam, RNZ\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"\u003e'Funny, sharp, sad and profound, \u003cem\u003eDelirious\u003c\/em\u003e made me laugh, think, weep and actually beat my breast. A masterpiece.' \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"\u003e—Elizabeth Knox, \u003cem\u003eThe Conversation\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"\u003e‘\u003cem\u003eDelirious\u003c\/em\u003e by Damien Wilkins is a beautiful work of fiction and if it reduces you to tears then you will not be alone. . . . The book of the year is all heart.’ —Steve Braunias, \u003cem\u003eNewsroom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\"\u003e'A charged book . . . \u003cem\u003eDelirious\u003c\/em\u003e is an accurate and sympathetic study of change, age and growth. Set on the very edge of land, the novel is poised between rational assessment and the mysteries of the deep.' —David Herkt, \u003cem\u003eNZ Listener\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e‘There’s so much poetry and beauty in this book . . . I have a very tender heart and it feels stronger for having read it.’ —Gabi Lardies, \u003cem\u003eThe Spinoff\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e‘I found it amazing that a book about traumatic events was also so funny, and even at times whimsical. . . . I like it when a novel reflects life so closely and this novel is so close to life it’s almost psychedelic with it: so much detail, and beauty and harshness and weirdness.’ —Claire Mabey, \u003cem\u003eThe Spinoff\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e‘Ageing may not be seen as the most glamorous topic, but this smart and sensitive novel proves it to be rewarding, if rare, territory. \u003cem\u003eDelirious\u003c\/em\u003e teaches us that there is always more to learn from the past—personal, pre-colonial—and that ageing is a perilous, precious privilege.’ —Claire Travaglia, \u003cem\u003eKete Books\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDamien Wilkins\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of fourteen books, most recently \u003cem\u003eAspiring\u003c\/em\u003e, winner of the Young Adult Fiction Award in 2020. His first novel, \u003cem\u003eThe Miserables\u003c\/em\u003e, won the New Zealand Book Award for fiction in 1994, and he has been long-listed three times for the Dublin Literary Award. He received a Whiting Writers’ Award from the Whiting Foundation, New York, in 1992, and an Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate Award in 2013. He is a professor at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and Director of the International Institute of Modern Letters Te Pūtahi Tui Auaha o Te Ao. As a musician and songwriter, he writes and records as the Close Readers.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: rgb(0, 0, 0);\"\u003ePaperback\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"book-details-description\" class=\"right-content\"\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"EmmasatOxford","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45797354995866,"sku":null,"price":38.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0013\/9024\/8009\/files\/9781776922086-Delirious-front-cover__09914.jpg?v=1748213802","url":"https:\/\/emmasatoxford.pro\/products\/delirious-damien-wilkins","provider":"EmmasatOxford","version":"1.0","type":"link"}