Held: A novel [B1922]

2024 HCDJ in excellent condition. - WINNER OF THE GILLER PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE • A breathtaking, ineffable, poetic new novel from the author of the international best sellers Fugitive Pieces and The Winter Vault-a novel of love and loyalty across generations, at once sweeping and intimate 1917. On a battlefield near the River Escaut, John lies in the aftermath of a blast, unable to move or feel his legs. Struggling to focus his thoughts, he is lost to memory as the snow falls-a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night. 1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near a different river. He is alive but still not whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and tries to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures: ghosts with messages he cannot understand. So begins a narrative that spans four generations of connections and consequences that ignite and reignite as the century unfolds. In radiant moments of desire, comprehension, longing, and transcendence, the sparks fly upward, working their transformations decades later. Held is affecting and intensely beautiful, full of mystery, wisdom, and compassion, a novel by a writer at the height of her powers.

From MIXED recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "This book reads at times like poetry but was marketed as a novel, even though what little plot there is is disconnected and elusive. I even went back and forth as to whether it was even a good book. In the end, though, I decided that this is indeed a very good book, filled with meditative explorations of desire and mortality, memory and loss. The theme seems to be the filament that connects the living and the dead, with the living figures nearly as sketchy as the departed. Many sentences gave me pause; some I read two or three times to savor, and others I copied into a notebook. This book may not be to everyone's taste (what book ever is?), but I was moved by it."; "I thought this was stunning. Poetic. It read as beautiful paragraphs and beautiful concepts, and not really like a novel. The images left me almost breathless at times. But I still feel like I was missing something. Not sure what. Maybe this book is more than I have the capacity to recognize. Not sure."; "I enjoyed this read, but it definitely wasn't what I expected. I found it a little tedious to follow at times and would have benefited from a family tree illustration for sure. I did like how interconnected it was!"; "This book is very gorgeous. Sometimes it was a bit impenetrable, though. Still, I enjoyed letting the words wash over me."; "Poetic, profound, philosophical!"