The Life Of De'Ath

(Paperback)

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In this accomplished first novel, the elusive narrator no less than Mephistopheles recounts Theodore DeAths life before and during the Great War. Traumatised by a family tragedy, Theodore immerses himself the Inferno, Paradise Lost and Faust and is captivated by the Underworld. The story, which begins in thinly disguised Wellington and Otago settings, unfolds against the backdrop of New Zealand military involvement and anti-German sentiment during World War I. As he goes against the tide of social and family pressure, Theodore struggles to express his feelings for Elizabeth Paterson. Then he is obliged to join the New Zealand Division in France in 1916. Confronted with the obscenity of war, begins to understand what Hell truly means.

Author Bio

MAJELLA CULLINANE, originally from Ireland, has lived in New Zealand since 2008. She has published two poetry collections, Guarding the Flame (2011) and Whisper of a Crows Wing (2018, Salmon Poetry and Otago University Press). She was Robert Burns Fellow at the University of Otago in 2014, and a Sir James Wallace/Pah Homestead Writer in Residence in 2017.