After Darke

Released from prison after serving his sentence for the assisted death of his wife, his health failing and his chronic impatience exacerbated, Dr James Darke self-isolates. But on his return he understands that he is now a displaced person, lost in a new world for which his education and inclinations have not prepared him.

Irascible, misanthropic, intensely bookish, fastidious in his tastes and rich enough to indulge them, Darke is a happy shut-in, busily writing oppositional pamphlets and composing a literary hoax. But his daughter and the Bulgarian housekeeper she hired to look after him have other ideas.

After Darke is a moving, witty reflection on grief, ageing and love in all its forms, and James Darke is one of the most memorable, exasperating yet loveable characters of contemporary fiction.

“A riot of eloquent bigotry and bluster . . . What Gekoski excels at is the hard, witty, shouty - yes, masculine - business of creating a literary hero like James Darke.-- The Times”

A riot of eloquent bigotry and bluster . . . What Gekoski excels at is the hard, witty, shouty - yes, masculine - business of creating a literary hero like James Darke. The Times
Unbroken, unbowed and raging against the wokeness of the modern world Mail on Sunday
[A] masterpiece of negative catharsis. The novel's antihero, Dr James Darke - a reclusive, misanthropic bibliophile, filled with general rancour towards the world - gives paradoxical pleasure by venting so biliously on our behalf. For readers weary of earnest piety and emotion easily bought. The Australian

Rick Gekoski came from his native America to do a Ph.D at Oxford, and went on to teach English at the University of Warwick. In 1982, sick of lecturing, he decided to become a full-time rare book dealer, specialising in important twentieth-century first editions and manuscripts. He lives in London and spends time each year in Paris and New Zealand.

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