Days of Feasting and Rejoicing, David Bergen
Days of Feasting and Rejoicing, David Bergen
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
Club: $11.47

Days of Feasting and Rejoicing

Author: David Bergen

Narrator: Cindy Kay

Unabridged: 6 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/12/2026


Synopsis

Days of Feasting and Rejoicing is a haunting literary crime novel by award-winning author David Bergen. When her friend Christine drowns under suspicious circumstances, Esther Maile—who has always longed to be someone else—slips almost effortlessly into Christine’s life. With a new name, easy access to money, and the attention of Christine’s former lover, the transformation feels natural.Until it isn’t.When it becomes unclear whether Christine’s death was truly an accident, Captain Net Wantok, a weary Thai police officer, begins to investigate. A trail of accidents and missing people all lead back to Esther. Drawn in by her beauty and uncanny resemblance to his own missing daughter, Captain Wantok finds his judgment clouded as his pursuit of the truth grows increasingly personal.In Days of Feasting and Rejoicing, innocence and guilt blur together, and the question of who Esther Maile truly is—and what she is capable of—is the most chilling mystery.

About David Bergen

David Bergen is the author of numerous acclaimed novels and short-story collections, including The Time In Between, winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and Out of Mind, winner of the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award. Away from the Dead is his thirteenth book of fiction. He lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Daniel Michael Karpenchuk is an actor and narrator who has appeared on stage and television. He is the narrator of the audiobooks of Hugh MacLennan’s Voices in Time and Return of the Sphinx, as well as the documentary Lost Canadian Legend: The Story of Jack Monroe.

About Cindy Kay

Cindy Kay is a Chinese Thai American narrator and educator who grew up in the California Bay Area and lives in the Rockies. Her work has been described as listening to a “cozy best friend.” She narrates fiction and nonfiction, and has studied Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, and Japanese.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Virginia on November 09, 2025

OK so first question - did the entity that wrote the blurb above actually read the book? My experience of it wasn't in any way linked to anything like that. I finished this last night and it's been percolating in my brain in a rancid way and I need to spew. This book felt like a male author getting......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie on November 06, 2025

This was an unsettling read. Esther was an interesting character whose motives still remain hidden even by the end of the book. I’m really not sure how I felt about this one. It was well written and a page turner, but I’m not loving the end of it I guess. I’m not sure if I would have liked a few mor......more

Goodreads review by Courtney on October 11, 2025

I just couldn’t get into this book. I think my problem was the main character was very unpredictable and many of her actions seemed abrupt and unrealistic. I did however enjoy the Thai setting, it took me back to my travels of this beautiful country. Thank you Gooselane for this complimentary copy.......more

Goodreads review by Rebecca on September 14, 2025

Different than my usual read but an enjoyable shorter book! Will check out other books by this author.......more

Goodreads review by Linzie (suspenseisthrillingme) on May 08, 2026

When I originally read the synopsis for The Days of Feasting and Rejoicing, I expected a riveting Hitchcockian ride of suspense, thrills, and chills. What I got was a gender-flipping retelling of The Talented Mr. Ripley that was sadly missing a bit of the tension and drive of the original. Having sa......more


Quotes

“A new Bergen is always reason to celebrate.” Louise Penny, New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Gamache series

“David Bergen’s new novel is a tightly wound thriller with a monstrous protagonist who induces equal amounts of horror and admiration. It’s a hell of a tightrope-walk that brings to mind the best of Patricia Highsmith.” Michael Redhill, award-winning author of Bellevue Square

“Taut, engrossing, and tense, Days of Feasting and Rejoicing is a fine-tuned, psychologically nuanced suspense story that offers so much more than most literary, crime thrillers, even those twice as long. Expertly crafted and impossible to put down.” Iain Reid, award-winning author of I’m Thinking of Ending Things

“Days of Feasting and Rejoicing smartly renews the story of dark reinvention we associate with Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels and Antonioni’s The Passenger. With his typical elegance, David Bergen compellingly moves us through disquiet, moral tension, high drama, and the fully human dilemmas of chief inspector Net Wantok, and into the killing mind of Esther Maile. The novel beautifully plays the desire for release against the impossibility of true escape.” Michael Helm, author of Cities of Refuge

“An homage to Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley that Bergen makes his own and turns into a wickedly addictive neo-noir.” Winnipeg Free Press

“Humming with tension, the narrative was wonderfully strange and absolutely gripping.” 49th Shelf

“Days of Feasting and Rejoicing is an unsettling read. Its assured and concise prose draws the reader in to wallow in its anxious moodiness, and Bergen’s examination of its boldly dark material inspires deep questions about the human condition, about how we judge right, wrong, and what exists in between.” Prairie Fire: A Canadian Magazine of New Writing