DEAF SENTENCE - Penguin

'One of the most moving things I have read in a long while... extremely readable, pitch perfect writing' SPECTATORBeing deaf is less an affliction than a sentence...Retired professor of linguistics Desmond Bates is going deaf. Not suddenly, but gradually and -for him and everyone nearby- confusingly. It's bother for his wife, Winifred, who has an enviably successful new career and is too busy to be endlessly repeating herself. Roles are reversed when he visits his hearing-impaired father, who won't seek help and resents his son's intrusions. And, finally, there's Alex. Alex is the student Desmond agrees to help after a typical misunderstanding. But her increasingly bizarre and disconcerting requests cannot -unfortunately- be blamed on defective hearing. So much for growing old gracefully...