In My Father’s Den

$16.00

When seventeen-year-old Celia Inverarity is found murdered in a quiet park, her teacher — the enigmatic Paul Prior — becomes a suspect. But it’s not just a whodunnit. As Paul is pulled back into his past, the story unravels a haunting exploration of family secrets, repression, and the brutal undercurrents of small-town New Zealand.

Maurice Gee’s third novel is considered one of the foundational texts of contemporary New Zealand fiction. Spare, dark, and unforgettable, In My Father’s Den peels back the curtain on the hidden emotional and psychological lives of seemingly ordinary people.

Adapted into a critically acclaimed film in 2004, this is a masterwork of subtle menace and literary restraint.

Buy a Copy: Available Edition of In My Father’s Den

Copy A — 1990 Oxford Paperback Reprint
◉ Publisher: Oxford University Press
◉ Edition: 1977 NZ edition, reprinted 1990
◉ Condition: Good. Some yellowing to pages, very light cover wear.

Category: Fiction Tags: 1970s, Maurice Gee, Oxford Uni Press

Description
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Description

Author: Maurice Gee
Publisher: Oxford University Press (NZ edition: 1977, reprinted 1983, 1984, 1990)
ISBN: 0-19-558111-3 / 9780195581119

Originally published in 1972 and reissued by Oxford University Press multiple times throughout the 1980s, In My Father’s Den is now recognised as a classic. It explores the psychological landscape of a man forced to confront a violent act that implicates both his past and his emotional detachment.

Maurice Gee crafts a story that’s part murder mystery, part meditation on memory and silence. Paul Prior, the narrator, returns to his hometown after years away. The death of his former student Celia brings old wounds to the surface — family estrangement, a lost brother, and the weight of unspoken truths.

This edition is the Oxford New Zealand Classic paperback, with a striking cover design by John McNulty.

Reviewer praise

✽ “A chilling look at what’s left unsaid. Gee is a master of restraint.” — The Listener

✽ “Elegant and devastating. A touchstone of New Zealand fiction.” — Landfall Review

✽ “If Janet Frame exposed the mind, Maurice Gee flays the soul.” — Evening Post

✽ “Still taut and relevant. New Zealand Gothic at its most controlled.” — Goodreads reviewer