Blindsight

Widely acclaimed when first published, Maurice Gee's Blindsight is now regarded as one of the master's finest novels and one of the best novels published in New Zealand in the past couple of decades. Reviewer Dennis Welch suggests it may be Gee's best work of fiction since the highly regarded Plumb.

Gee's complex but knowing portrait of siblings who were once close but are now completely estranged as adults—and why, and what's being hidden—is a brilliantly executed novel. Alice Ferry is a retired Wellington scientist. As her story unfolds, we learn of her childhood with her brother Gordon in West Auckland and of the divergent paths their lives have taken. While Alice has gone on to have a successful career, Gordon has mentally deteriorated to the point where he is a silent derelict living on the streets of Wellington.

As the novel evolves, Alice is becoming more and more edgy. What is she hiding? How has Gordon ended up in this state? And what does Alice herself have to do with it? Who are we to believe?