Closing Ceremonies and Dying Times
Portrait Photo - Eric Fefferman
Closing Ceremonies and Dying Times is a collection of linked love stories that explores the aftermath of love. Who among us has not suffered the after-shocks? The sorrowing souls that inhabit these tales struggle at various stages of the grief cycle: from denial and paralysis to anger and desire for revenge; to bargaining and, ultimately, for some characters and for others incompletely, acceptance and reconciliation. Some of the stories handle the love quandary comedically — for example, the triptych of stories about Francesca and Concetta, who embrace a sisterly friendship born of betrayal. Others are more elegiac, such as the story of Thor and Lovise: unsanctioned lovers who get to orbit about each other, however briefly. “Appropriation” is a coming-of-age story where the longed-for first kiss is obtained, but not in the way the kiss was desired. What links these stories? Human yearning to move out of love away from an obsessive attachment, to a selfless state where genuine love becomes possible again.
Closing Ceremonies includes a resurrected Dying Times, which is really all about celebrating life and love — amatevi — love one another.
Released in September 2026. Order your copy today.
“Darlene Madott is snared in a spiderweb of rivalry, resentment and grief in this wise and compelling meditation on death, loss and forgiveness. The deaths of her aged parents, the demise of her mentor and legal partner, and her decision to retire after decades as a successful lawyer in a male-dominated legal firm, precipitate a moral and emotional crisis. She wants to move forward but first she must escape the entangling tendrils of rage and bitterness that trap her in ancient feuds with a diabolical sibling, a deadbeat former husband, an avaricious client and jealous colleagues. How to forgive and forgo so she can find harmony in the last part of her life is the dilemma animating this treatise on love and forgiveness. Written in a frank and crisp style, Dying Times offers compelling life lessons for the young as well as the aged. I couldn’t put it down.”
–Sandra Martin, author of A Good Death and Working the Dead Beat.
Guernica Editions, 2026
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Click Here to visit the Closing Ceremonies and Dying Times website.
The Author Reads from Closing Ceremonies and Dying Times
“Momma, how will I bear it?” her little Marco had asked, home from his access visits, sitting up in bed with his mother, who spooned pastina in brodo from a Bunnykins Royal Doulton mug. “You will bear it because you must, because we have no other choice”. What he will never say, could never say aloud to his mother: I have a father who went to prison. You have your little broken heart. In a contest between yours and mine, who was dealt the crappiest hand?
“Moved by Dying Times – a lot. I was captivated by Madott’s voice and her confidence, along with everything she had to say. This is the kind of read that people can feel and understand; such simplicity that can’t help but captivate the reader… Just lovely. Good weeping. Good laughing.”
–Marsha Boulton, Canadian journalist and humorist, winner of Stephen Leacock Award, 1996
"Madott is not afraid to pose risky questions in her fiction, ones to which the answers are not known or may not even exist. Her characters brave perilous emotional territory and face questions about desire, need, connection, pride and shame. The result is a series of deftly constructed stories that simmer with intensity and produce clear moments of truth."
— Beth Ryan, Globe & Mail