Linguistics professor Thomas Saunders is on his way home to try and see his mum on her deathbed.
The problem is, he just has so much else on his mind… He’s supposed to be giving the keynote speech at a big conference in Berlin. His best friend’s just been assaulted by his own son. He’s anxious about his girlfriend back in Spain, partly because she’s half his age and partly because he still hasn’t told his family that he left his wife for her two years ago.
Oh, and he’s just triggered an onset of the chronic pelvic-floor pain that has been plaguing him for years… by self-administering a therapeutic anal massage with a special contraption that is raising all sorts of eyebrows at airport security.
The novel follows the meanderings and vacillations of Thomas’ mind as he navigates these and a hundred other related issues.
There are texts and emails to respond to, family members to negotiate, a funeral to survive, and painful memories to contend with. Perhaps he shouldn’t have left his wife? What was the meaning of his mother’s last enigmatic words to him – ‘If only…’?
And – reflecting on the unquestioning religiosity of his lay preacher mum and vicar dad (also dead) – how do you square your grief for the loss of your parents with an equally heartfelt rejection of all that they believed in?
In Extremis is by turns funny, poignant and thought-provoking. Structured with subtle intricacy, superbly controlled, and emotionally intelligent, this is a book to love.
