Sincerely, Me

About the Book

Danny Mulberry is a man who ‘could do better’. Better at life, better at taking on responsibility and most definitely better at being a grown-up.

But when a misleading photo of Danny appears in the newspaper, people around the country start to think this apparently enlightened man could be the one with all the answers. Letters begin to flood in from strangers seeking his guidance . . .

Wolfie is the teenage daughter of Danny’s estranged sister, Lou. She’s never met her uncle. But her mother needs help, and so, when Wolfie sees Danny’s picture in the paper, she sets out to find him.

Within a week, Danny goes from being responsibility-free to a big brother, an uncle and an unwitting existential ‘guru’ to some very lost souls.

An uplifting and heartwarming novel about a family reunited, second chances and the power of forgiveness, from the critically acclaimed author of The Funny Thing about Norman Foreman.

Contents

Cover

About the Book

Title Page

Dedication

1. Danny

2. Wolfie

3. Danny

4. Danny

5. Danny

6. Danny

7. Danny

8. Wolfie

9. Danny

10. Danny

11. Danny

12. Danny

13. Danny

14. Danny

15. Wolfie

16. Wolfie

17. Danny

18. Danny

19. Danny

20. Wolfie

21. Danny

22. Wolfie

23. Danny

24. Wolfie

25. Danny

26. Wolfie

27. Danny

28. Danny

29. Danny

30. Wolfie

31. Danny

32. Wolfie

33. Danny

34. Danny

35. Wolfie

36. Danny

37. Wolfie

38. Wolfie

39. Danny

40. Danny

41. Wolfie

42. Danny

43. Danny

44. Wolfie

45. Danny

46. Wolfie

47. Danny

48. Wolfie

49. Danny

50. Wolfie

51. Danny

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also by the Author

Imprint

Read More at Penguin Books Australia

For Sidra, niece extraordinaire

1

Danny

Number two highlight of my thirty-ninth birthday: an extremely fit policewoman calling me interesting in front of some very hard to impress neighbours.

Definitely not unconnected lowlight of the day that followed fairly soon after: the disapproving look on Gentleman’s face as I was driven off in the back of a patrol car headed for Camden police station. He’s also quite hard to impress, for a dog, although a damn sight more forgiving than the neighbours.

I suppose if you’re the kind of person that’s used to it, being called interesting mightn’t seem like such a big deal. But when you’re me, Danny Mulberry, Mr Could-Do-Better, permanent address your best mate’s garden shed, the bar is never going to be high. She had brown eyes and a dangerous swing in her walk, that policewoman, and I’m sorry but I couldn’t help noticing.

When I’d woken up slightly later than the crack of dawn on the morning after yet another night before, half in, half out of the front gate, with a claggy paintbrush on the ground beside me and an open tin of red paint a few feet away, my main concern had been getting to it before Gentleman tried to have it away for his breakfast. He’s probably eaten worse than a bit of solvent in his time, but there’s no point tempting fate, or a dog with a delicate constitution and a firm belief that every tin in the world is filled with gourmet rabbit in gravy.