Delirious: 'Wilkins shows us old age, old love, and old loss. A wonderful novel' - Claire Fuller
Damien Wilkins
Aug 2026 · Sceptre · Narrated by Sara Lynam
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10 hr 58 min
Unabridged
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THE AWARD-WINNING, WORD-OF-MOUTH NEW ZEALAND BESTSELLER
NOMINATED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
WINNER OF NEW ZEALAND'S JANN MEDLICOTT ACORN PRIZE
'I was dazzled by this book's intimacy, truth and complexity. It has everything I truly love in fiction'
Charlotte Wood, author of Stone Yard Devotional
'With precise emotional acuity, Wilkins shows us old age, old love, and old loss. A wonderful novel'
Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground
'A superb book - Damien Wilkins writes so movingly about grief and loss'
Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures
It's time. Mary, an ex cop, and her husband Pete, a former librarian, have decided to move into a retirement village. Selling their beloved house should be a clean break, but the past, it seems, has other ideas. A detective calls with new information about the case of their son, Will, who died in an accident forty years earlier. Mary finds herself returning to the last months of her sister's shortened life. And Pete is haunted by memories of his late mother, who developed delirium and never recovered.
An unforgettable novel of rare power and grace, Delirious poses the questions we all eventually face, if we're lucky - or unlucky - enough. How do we care for others? How do we face each new phase of life? And how do we ever cope?
'Delirious made me laugh, think, weep and actually beat my breast. A masterpiece'
Elizabeth Knox, author of The Absolute Book
'Delirious rearranged me. Utterly absorbing, moving, brilliant'
Emily Perkins, author of Lioness
NOMINATED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
WINNER OF NEW ZEALAND'S JANN MEDLICOTT ACORN PRIZE
'I was dazzled by this book's intimacy, truth and complexity. It has everything I truly love in fiction'
Charlotte Wood, author of Stone Yard Devotional
'With precise emotional acuity, Wilkins shows us old age, old love, and old loss. A wonderful novel'
Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground
'A superb book - Damien Wilkins writes so movingly about grief and loss'
Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures
It's time. Mary, an ex cop, and her husband Pete, a former librarian, have decided to move into a retirement village. Selling their beloved house should be a clean break, but the past, it seems, has other ideas. A detective calls with new information about the case of their son, Will, who died in an accident forty years earlier. Mary finds herself returning to the last months of her sister's shortened life. And Pete is haunted by memories of his late mother, who developed delirium and never recovered.
An unforgettable novel of rare power and grace, Delirious poses the questions we all eventually face, if we're lucky - or unlucky - enough. How do we care for others? How do we face each new phase of life? And how do we ever cope?
'Delirious made me laugh, think, weep and actually beat my breast. A masterpiece'
Elizabeth Knox, author of The Absolute Book
'Delirious rearranged me. Utterly absorbing, moving, brilliant'
Emily Perkins, author of Lioness
THE AWARD-WINNING, WORD-OF-MOUTH NEW ZEALAND BESTSELLER
NOMINATED FOR THE DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD
WINNER OF NEW ZEALAND'S JANN MEDLICOTT ACORN PRIZE
'I was dazzled by this book's intimacy, truth and complexity. It has everything I truly love in fiction'
Charlotte Wood, author of Stone Yard Devot...
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About the author
Damien Wilkins is the author of fourteen books. He has won the New Zealand Book Award twice: for his first novel, The Miserables, in 1994, and for Delirious, in 2025. He has been longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award four times, and is the recipient of a Whiting Award. He is a professor at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington and director of the International Institute of Modern Letters Te Pūtahi Tui Auaha o Te Ao.
Damien Wilkins is the author of fourteen books. He has won the New Zealand Book Award twice: for his first novel, The Miserables, in 1994, and for Delirious, in 2025. He has been longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award four times, and is the recipient of a Whiting Award. He is a professor at Te ...
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