Days of Feasting and Rejoicing
In this brilliant existential portrayal of identity, David Bergen introduces Esther Maile, an expat American living in Thailand in a house rented by the richer, more popular Christine. While on holiday in Bali, Christine is caught by an ocean wave and drowns. Esther rushes to save her, but in the chaos that ensues, the police arrive and confuse Esther for Christine.
For someone who would prefer to be anyone but herself, this is the perfect solution — no matter the consequences. When a local Thai police captain, Net Wantok, begins to investigate Christine’s death and seeks out Esther, he is caught between his curiosity — she is charming, evasive, and flirtatious — and the awareness that people around Esther are disappearing. Sensing danger, Esther acts out of fear and pulls the one person who loves her into her perilous world.
Bergen’s mesmerizing psychological drama hums with expatriate gossip, sexual tension, unexpected violence, a passion for food, and a woman who, seemingly unhindered by questions of truth or morality, hints at the darkness in all of us.
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David Bergen is a bestselling author who has been described as “one of Canada’s best writers” (Montreal Gazette). The author of fourteen works of fiction, including his recent novels Away from the Dead and Out of Mind, Bergen has won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award, the Margaret Lawrence Award for Fiction, and the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, as well as many other awards. His work has also been shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award, the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Pushcart Prize, and he has personally received the prestigious Matt Cohen Award from the Writers’ Trust of Canada in celebration of his writing career. He lives in Winnipeg.
