Hysterical Love

"Wilke is a skilled writer, able to plausibly inhabit Dan's young male perspective... A well-written, engaging, sometimes-frustrating tale of reaching adulthood a little late." -- Kirkus Reviews

Dan McDowell, a thirty-three-year-old portrait photographer happily set to marry his beloved Jane, is stunned when a slip of the tongue about an "ex-girlfriend overlap" of years earlier throws their pending marriage into doubt and him onto the street. Or at least into the second bedroom of their next-door neighbor, Bob, where Dan is sure it won't be long. It's long. His sister, Lucy, further confuses matters with her "soul mate theory" and its suggestion that Jane might not be his... soul mate, that is. But the tipping point comes when his father is struck ill, sparking a chain of events in which Dan discovers a story written by this man he doesn't readily understand, but who, it seems, has long harbored an unrequited love from decades earlier. Incapable of fixing his own romantic dilemma, Dan becomes fixated on finding this woman of his father's dreams and sets off for Oakland, California, on a mission fraught with detours and semi-hilarious peril. Along the way he meets the beautiful Fiona, herbalist and flower child, who assists in his quest while quietly and erotically shaking up his world. When, against all odds, he finds the elusive woman from the past, the ultimate discovery of how she truly fit into his father's life leaves him staggered, as does the reality of what's been stirred up with Fiona. But it's when he returns home to yet another set of unexpected truths that he's shaken to the core, ultimately forced to face who he is and just whom he might be able to love. Lorraine Devon Wilke, author of the acclaimed 2014 debut novel, AFTER THE SUCKER PUNCH, brings her deft mix of humor and drama to a whip-smart narrative told from the point of view of its male protagonist. HYSTERICAL LOVE explores themes of family, commitment, balancing creativity, facing adulthood, and digging deep to understand the beating heart of true love.

"The narrative is effectively told through first person, with Daniel candidly confiding his fears and confusion to the reader. Devon Wilke manages to convey the male psyche with a good-natured humor that seems eminently believable. Hysterical Love is a deftly told tale about not only the search for love in the 21st century, but about seeking a greater understanding of the intricacies of the human heart, about love in all its various forms and disguises: puppy love, lost love, emerging love, enduring love, and of course, hysterical love." -- Literary Fiction Book Review

Cover design by Grace Amandes. Cover photographs by Lorraine Devon Wilke

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