Tessa McWatt

A gripping story focusing on a complex marriage as it reaches crisis point.

Depicts the power struggles and compromises of a long marriage with bracing honesty.

Part love story, part forensic examination of the psyche, Tessa McWatt digs deep into what makes us human in this disturbing portrait of family life.

Packed with fascinating insight ... It's a gripping read

A mesmerizing read. . . . [A] beautiful book. . . . A story of such enigma and economy . . . She depicts the undulating landscape of an enduring marriage with poignancy and power . . . Vital Signs is a work of literature, criticism and philosophy all at once: A formidable intellectual hat trick. At the same time McWatt tells a sincere and simple tale, that like children, we wish would never end.

A wonderful, thoughtful tale about love, language and living.

‘I think I have found the way to talk to her in the present. The past takes too much language.’ 
 
So much is taken for granted in a long marriage, so much is relied upon, resented, and never spoken of. When Anna begins to mangle her sentences as a result of a brain aneurysm that could kill her at any moment, her husband Mike uses his talent as a graphic artist to draw his way closer to his wife. Trying to communicate with her, and himself too, through signs and symbols, he wants to show his wife that she has been his entire universe. But Mike is deeply flawed, hovering on the knife-edge of a confession, he selfishly looks to the woman he loves for absolution. Not knowing how much time they have left together and incoherent with guilt, will he finally confess all the ways in which he rebelled against her power over him, the way he betrayed her?

Vital Signs

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Tessa McWatt

Praise for Vital Signs

A gripping story focusing on a complex marriage as it reaches crisis point.

Depicts the power struggles and compromises of a long marriage with bracing honesty.

Part love story, part forensic examination of the psyche, Tessa McWatt digs deep into what makes us human in this disturbing portrait of family life.

A gripping story focusing on a complex marriage as it reaches crisis point.

Depicts the power struggles and compromises of a long marriage with bracing honesty.

Part love story, part forensic examination of the psyche, Tessa McWatt digs deep into what makes us human in this disturbing portrait of family life.

A gripping story focusing on a complex marriage as it reaches crisis point.

Depicts the power struggles and compromises of a long marriage with bracing honesty.

Part love story, part forensic examination of the psyche, Tessa McWatt digs deep into what makes us human in this disturbing portrait of family life.

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