Wild Iris

Set over an Easter weekend, Wild Iris follows Eve as she enters a psychological crisis: will she reconnect with an old lover, or end her life? We stay with Eve over the course of a day—her 42nd birthday—and into the night, as the past bubbles into the present. As a child Eve is anxious and lonely, but with a rich interior world, fascinated by language. She is raised by Gerty, a strict, taciturn Presbyterian, which only adds to her feeling of being out of place: everyone seems to have a template for living but her. Then she meets Louise and their intense friendship lasts into university, when Johnny arrives on the scene and splinters their trust. At Eve’s 21st birthday party, home from a night of drinking and drugs, a tragedy happens that will shape the rest of Eve’s life. 'Wild Iris is an accomplished and utterly captivating novel. It's a deeply moving and visceral read rich in language, metaphor and detail yet also heartbreakingly humane. McKee has drawn a vivid and unsettling portrait of a woman tottering on the edge of herself.' Jan Carson