Cure For Suicide

From the acclaimed author of Silence Once Begun comes a beguiling new novel about a man starting over at the most basic level, and the strange woman who insinuates herself into his life and memory.
A man and a woman have moved into a small house in a small village. The woman is an 'examiner', the man, her 'claimant'. The examiner is both doctor and guide, charged with teaching the claimant a series of simple functions- this is a chair, this is a fork, this is how you meet people. She makes notes in her journal about his progress. He is showing improvement, but his dreams are troubling. One day, the examiner brings him to a party, and here he meets Hilda, a charismatic but volatile woman whose surprising assertions throw everything the claimant has learned into question. What is this village? Why is he here? And who is Hilda? A fascinating novel of love, illness, despair and betrayal, A Cure for Suicide is the most captivating novel yet from this audacious and original writer.
Praise forSilence Once Begun
'Strange, brief, beguiling... Ball's talents, both as a storyteller and a writer of prose, tend to burst the borders of his structures. His language is chastely lyrical, with a discreet masculinity... He is often appealingly funny, in an absurdist manner.' James Wood, New Yorker
'A piercing tragedy in a language that combines subtlety and simplicity in such a way that it causes a reader to go carefully, not wanting to miss a word.'New York Times
'Immediately and completely absorbing, sucking you in and-a too brief couple of hours later-spitting you right back out again.'Adelaide Advertiser
'Silence Once Begunis a suspenseful, philosophical novel masquerading as reportage. Its preoccupations are complex, but it's written with great clarity...The resonances between the narratives-the recourse to silence, inexplicable disappearances, the ineffable qualities of love and loss-are treated with delicacy and restraint.'Weekend Australian