Dr James Darke has expelled himself from the world He writes compulsively in his 'coming of old age' journal; he eats little drinks & smokes a lot; he tries to console himself with the wisdom of the great thinkers & poets yet finds nothing but disappointment But cracks of light start to appear in his carefully managed darkness
- the tender bruised filaments of love for his daughter & grandson With scalding prose ruthless intelligence & an unforgettably vivid protagonist Darke confronts some of humanity's greatest & most uncomfortable questions about how we choose to live & to die