Derrick King published the biographical memoir, Love for a Deaf Rebel: Schizophrenia on Bowen Island (Provenance Press, 2021) about his tumultuous romance with Pearl, a vivacious and profoundly deaf maverick, who, unknown to him, had paranoid schizophrenia. King learned sign language for her and the couple moved to Bowen Island in 1985. There, they married and built their dream home and hobby farm. The bond that grew between strangers living in two worlds brings revelations about prejudice, acceptance, handicaps, and equality. They encountered one obstacle after another as Pearl’s perception of reality—and, crucially, their perception of each other—began to change. The difficulty of dealing with a loved one’s mental illness masked by disability changed Derrick King's life. He left Bowen Island in 1988 because of the events described in this book and never returned to Canada to live. After twenty years residing in the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, and India, he made his home in Singapore.

Derrick King was born in 1954, a fifth-generation Newfoundlander. He moved to Vancouver in 1957 and graduated from the University of British Columbia (BASc, 1977) and Simon Fraser University (MBA, 1988).

Love for a Deaf Rebel: Schizophrenia on Bowen Island (March 2021)
eBook Edition, 200 Pages, ePub, ISBN 9789811805752
Print Edition 350 Pages, PDF, Illustrated, ISBN 9789811805745

[BCBW 2021]