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 ? Narrated with wit and brutal honesty by housemaid Nellie Titterington, ‘Max Gate’ is both an entertaining insight into the eccentricities of a writer’s life, and a raw, intriguing tale of torn loyalty, ownership and jealousy. AUTHOR: Damien Wilkins is one of New Zealand’s leading writers, the author of seven novels, including the New Zealand Book Award-winning ‘The Miserables’, and ‘The Fainter’, which was shortlisted for both the Montana New Zealand Book Awards and the Commonwealth Writers Prize. In 2013 he became the Director of the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington. Wilkins completed his MFA at Washington University and won a Whiting Award in 1992. REVIEWS: 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
Wilkins is brilliant at character … the writing is full of verve. Wilkins has an eye for telling detail, a great ear for dialogue and a dark sense of humour. The Guardian
Wilkins’s characters are individual, unpredictable and real’ Independent on Sunday
Wilkins can command a breathtakingly supple literary style New York Times
An antipodean A. M. Homes The Guardian
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