Obsession

Represented by:
Sophie Gorell Barnes

Category:
Fiction

Publisher:
Upstart (New Zealand)

Publication date:
March 2017

Foreign rights controlled by:
MBA

Obsession is a literary mystery tale, the story of an obsessive love affair, and the repercussions long after the affair has ended. The two people at the heart of the story are writers. The third person in the triangle is a celebrated poet of Dalmatian extraction. It recreates the era in an atmosphere charged with New Zealand’s 1980s culture, set in the very recognisable environment of Waiheke Island where the dense bush forms a metaphor for the difficulties of a struggling writer striving to raise her head above the dominating reputation of her lover.

Reviews

"A study of entangled human relationships... the novel explores the way stories come into being, the way writers connect and disconnect, the way truth and imagination are crucial yet variable tools, the way personal experience is fertile yet dangerous ground. Fascinating. Haunting." Paula Green, Sunday Star Times. April 2017

"A book about a writer writing a book about a narrator obsessed by a writer, now there’s complexity. Yet Sandys manages this with ease… her control over narrative, structure and character effortlessly journeys us through her book and the two decades of NZ life and politics which underpins it. Another Sandys masterpiece". Siobhan Harvey, NZ Herald. April 2017