Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
“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
Review
“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
Review
“Makes for dark, thrilling reading...In James Darke, Gekoski has created a powerful, raging voice.”
Spectator
Review
“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
About the Author
Rick Gekoski is a writer, rare book dealer, and academic. He has written several widely praised nonfiction books including Staying Up, Tolkien’s Gown, Outside of a Dog, and Lost, Stolen, or Shredded. His debut novel Darke was published in 2016 when Gekoski was 72 years old.
Rick Gekoski on PowellsBooks.Blog
If you’re clear about anything by the time you’re in your early 70s, it is what you can and cannot do. I am not going to become an astronaut, win Wimbledon, or convert Donald Trump to decency...
Read More»