The Stars Are Not Yet Bells
Published on 10. November 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-5293-7064-5 (ISBN)
Description
'An unusual, intense, experimental novel' Daily Mail
In the aftermath of the Great Depression, Elle Ranier marries Simon to escape a life of destitution. She leaves New York City for Lyra, a remote, wooded island off the south-eastern coast of America. There, amid rumours of strange jewels hidden beneath the water, Elle harbours a secret: her guest, Gabriel, is not a cousin but her lover.
Their time together is brief, but throughout her long marriage to Simon, Elle never forgets Gabriel. Half a century later, as the mists of dementia creep in, she is still haunted by his fate. Poignant and poetic, The Stars Are Not Yet Bells is a mesmerising exploration of the limits of memory, and the people we can never forget.
'Poignant . . . a testament to love and loss' Washington Post
In the aftermath of the Great Depression, Elle Ranier marries Simon to escape a life of destitution. She leaves New York City for Lyra, a remote, wooded island off the south-eastern coast of America. There, amid rumours of strange jewels hidden beneath the water, Elle harbours a secret: her guest, Gabriel, is not a cousin but her lover.
Their time together is brief, but throughout her long marriage to Simon, Elle never forgets Gabriel. Half a century later, as the mists of dementia creep in, she is still haunted by his fate. Poignant and poetic, The Stars Are Not Yet Bells is a mesmerising exploration of the limits of memory, and the people we can never forget.
'Poignant . . . a testament to love and loss' Washington Post
Reviews / Votes
A heartbreaking and profoundly visionary book. Hannah Assadi movingly renders the kaleidoscopic nature of memory-revealing not only one woman's disordered heart and mind, but the way our consciousness recombines shards of memory to create a glittering, prismatic view of a life. I wanted to stay in Assadi's shimmering sentences for as long as I could. * Emily Fridlund, author of <i>History of Wolves</i> * Assadi captivates the senses, compelling readers to pause and reflect as they progress through the story. Highly recommended for those who enjoy lyrical fiction that explores women's inner lives. * Booklist * Enchanted and haunting narration * The Millions * A story of love and loss * Harper's Bazaar (US) * A darkly romantic story * Choice Magazine * The poetic beauty of the writing and a certain swirling Gothic passion and drama bowl the reader along... An unusual, intense, experimental novel * Daily Mail * Sharp and impressionistic sentences . . . an exhilarating reading experience * NPR * Elegiac with slightly gothic undertones * Sydney Morning Herald * Poignant . . . a testament to love and loss * Washington Post * A luminous and deeply moving portrait of the end of life and the persistence of desire. While Hannah Lillith Assadi's characters are forced to deny the truth of themselves and who they love, in her assured hands the extraordinary beauty of life and love and the natural world is never lost -- JoAnne Tompkins, author of What Comes After A prophetic fever dream sprung from a singular imagination. Hannah Lillith Assadi is an incomparable stylist and a fearless storyteller. This novel is a lush, addicting, daring wonder -- Claire Vaye Watkins, author of I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness A rich, mesmerizing novel, in which waves of overlapping memory erode the landscape of a woman's life until only feeling remains-both in the story and in the reader -- Simon Van Booy, author of The Illusion of SeparatenessMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Hodder & Stoughton
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 212 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
172 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5293-7064-5 (9781529370645)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Hannah Lillith Assadi received her MFA in fiction from the Columbia University School of the Arts. She was raised in Arizona by her Jewish mother and Palestinian father. She lives in Brooklyn. A 5 Under 35 National Book Award Honoree, her first novel, Sonora (Soho 2017) received the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a finalist for the PEN/ Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction.