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Wild Iris
Set over an Easter weekend, Wild Iris follows Eve as she enters a psychological crisis: will she reconnect with an old lover, or end her life? We stay with Eve over the course of a day—her 42nd birthday—and into the night, as the past bubbles into the present. As a child Eve is anxious and lonely, but with a rich interior world, fascinated by language. She is raised by Gerty, a strict, taciturn Presbyterian, which only adds to her feeling of being out of place: everyone seems to have a template for living but her. Then she meets Louise and their intense friendship lasts into university, when Johnny arrives on the scene and splinters their trust. At Eve’s 21st birthday party, home from a night of drinking and drugs, a tragedy happens that will shape the rest of Eve’s life.
- GenresFiction
224 pages, Paperback
Published May 19, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 4, 2026
Beautifully-crafted writing with a unique and memorable turn of phrase: this writer has a highly distinctive voice. This is literary - not one word is wasted on a dud sentence - yet effortlessly readable.
Childhood years, university days and the present are expertly woven into a flowing, easy narrative. Eve's observations on life and the folk around her are sharp and relatable, her everyday vignettes generous and evocative - from making friends at school with the girl who "smelt of cheese crackers", to the mundane, cinnamon-scented comforts of the bakery where she now works. Her strange upbringing with Gerty is fascinating, sad and beautifully rendered.
The novel has at its heart a story of fractured love and betrayal, devastating revelations and a tragedy that give it the grip of a thriller; I am a hard-to-please reader with a woefully short attention span but I tore through this book.
Playful and poignant description sits alongside shattering observation and heartbreaking revelation with ease. It's a study of loneliness and the way the past can haunt you, how hearing an old song might eviscerate you, or a kind word from a stranger might break you. It's about being an outlier and otherness. But Mckee also sees the endless wry humour and everyday joys and comforts in life as well as the infinitive sadness and existential despair.
This is a really exciting new voice in fiction and I can't wait to see what this writer produces next! Highly recommended.
"See, that's how it happens, one minute you're in a group of women at the table, all perfume and anticipation and gales of high-pitched laughter, and the next you're that person on their own, gesticulating in the air, talking to ghosts"
Childhood years, university days and the present are expertly woven into a flowing, easy narrative. Eve's observations on life and the folk around her are sharp and relatable, her everyday vignettes generous and evocative - from making friends at school with the girl who "smelt of cheese crackers", to the mundane, cinnamon-scented comforts of the bakery where she now works. Her strange upbringing with Gerty is fascinating, sad and beautifully rendered.
The novel has at its heart a story of fractured love and betrayal, devastating revelations and a tragedy that give it the grip of a thriller; I am a hard-to-please reader with a woefully short attention span but I tore through this book.
Playful and poignant description sits alongside shattering observation and heartbreaking revelation with ease. It's a study of loneliness and the way the past can haunt you, how hearing an old song might eviscerate you, or a kind word from a stranger might break you. It's about being an outlier and otherness. But Mckee also sees the endless wry humour and everyday joys and comforts in life as well as the infinitive sadness and existential despair.
This is a really exciting new voice in fiction and I can't wait to see what this writer produces next! Highly recommended.
"See, that's how it happens, one minute you're in a group of women at the table, all perfume and anticipation and gales of high-pitched laughter, and the next you're that person on their own, gesticulating in the air, talking to ghosts"
May 29, 2026
What a glorious novel, both life-affirming and deeply aware of the pitfalls and regrets that can derail a life, with one incident from our protagonist's youthful, wild years haunting her many years later
Set over the Easter weekend, a time of both death and rebirth, McKee's assured debut traces Eve on her 42nd birthday as she mines her memories of a strict, plain childhood occasionally marked by joy and colour, and her later, freer adolescence and college years, liberated and hedonistic, yet never far from examination and self-awareness.
Eve has an obsession with language, their meanings and origins of words, their look, their sound, and an almost infinite capacity to interrogate the look and sound and meaning, and most importantly, the origin of her own life.
What could have been a nauseating series of self-involved and self-absorbed episodes is instead a rich, textured, interesting examination of a central question: what is it to be in the world, and what is the world without me in it? The existential novel has sadly fallen out of fashion and McKee is to be commended for tackling such weighty themes with such lightness of touch.
McKee has a rich prose style and a canny ear for dialogue as well as a deliciously morbid sense of humour.
This is a quick read but you want to slow down to savour the author's beautiful, sometimes shocking imagery. McKee obviously shares her protagonist's passion for language and meaning, and this is a novel that offers much to chew on, linguistically, emotionally and spiritually.
Set over the Easter weekend, a time of both death and rebirth, McKee's assured debut traces Eve on her 42nd birthday as she mines her memories of a strict, plain childhood occasionally marked by joy and colour, and her later, freer adolescence and college years, liberated and hedonistic, yet never far from examination and self-awareness.
Eve has an obsession with language, their meanings and origins of words, their look, their sound, and an almost infinite capacity to interrogate the look and sound and meaning, and most importantly, the origin of her own life.
What could have been a nauseating series of self-involved and self-absorbed episodes is instead a rich, textured, interesting examination of a central question: what is it to be in the world, and what is the world without me in it? The existential novel has sadly fallen out of fashion and McKee is to be commended for tackling such weighty themes with such lightness of touch.
McKee has a rich prose style and a canny ear for dialogue as well as a deliciously morbid sense of humour.
This is a quick read but you want to slow down to savour the author's beautiful, sometimes shocking imagery. McKee obviously shares her protagonist's passion for language and meaning, and this is a novel that offers much to chew on, linguistically, emotionally and spiritually.
May 28, 2026
I agree with one of the reviews on the jacket that the author’s voice is tender and intimate. Her choice of phrases is creative and unexpected. But don’t expect this book to be funny, as another reviewer states. This statement is bizarre! The book is extremely sad, it describes loneliness, feelings of not-belonging, embarrassment, drunkenness, depression, deceit, and suicide. I don’t get what’s “funny” here.
July 14, 2026
It is beautifully written. I found Eve, the main character so deeply sensing, so lovable... But personally I wouldn't qualify this book as funny, there are humorous passages but it's very tragic. Please don't read if you're depressed or going through hard times.
June 12, 2026
Beautiful, moving, and very gripping. It IS funny and tragic for people with a dry and dark sense of humour! Loved it.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews