Fiction finalist 2014 New Zealand Post Book Awards
Who owns us when we're gone? Thomas Hardy's friends and family fight over his legacy (and mortal remains).
'Lyrical... beautifully crafted' New Zealand Herald
The story of Thomas Hardy’s death told by his housemaid Nellie. 1928. As Thomas Hardy lies on his death bed at his Dorset home, Max Gate, a tug-of-war is taking place over his legacy... and the eventual fate of his mortal remains. What counts for more: the wishes of his family and dutiful second wife, Florence? the opinion of his literary friends? Hardy’s own express desires? or ‘the will of the nation’?
A novel which tells the story of the death of author Thomas Hardy in 1928, through the eyes of his housemaid Nellie. The New Zealand author teaches creative writing at Victoria University in Wellington, past students of which include Man Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton. This novel was a finalist for the 2014 New Zealand Post Book Award. 'An antipodean A.M. Homes' "Guardian"
Fiction finalist 2014 New Zealand Post Book Awards
'Max Gate is superbly attuned to that tremulous moment just before everything changes forever – the Hardy household, the known world of domestic servitude and dutiful women. Damien Wilkins, who writes fabulous prose, is a wise and imaginative guide to this fascinating terrain. He has created that wondrous thing, a novel that surprises and delights at every turn' Michelle de Kretser
Lyrical ... beautifully crafted ... As Hardy is lauded as one of the finest English writers, Wilkins is one of New Zealand's great wordsmiths' New Zealand Herald
Praise for Damien Wilkins:
'Mr. Wilkins can command a breathtakingly supple literary style' New York Times
'Remarkable talent for setting scenes and sketching characters ... a tour de force display of a deep and abiding literary gift and marks Wilkins as a young novelist of extraordinary promise' Publishers Weekly
'A witty and sentient writer' LA Times
