Hide
Published on 11. August 2016
Book
Hardback
272 pages
978-1-4088-6708-2 (ISBN)
Description
WINNNER OF THE CROOK'S CORNER BOOK PRIZE 2016
'This is a great love story' Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story
Wendell Wilson, a taxidermist, and Frank Clifton, a veteran, meet after the Second World War. But, in this declining textile town in a southern US state, their love holds real danger. Severing nearly all ties with the rest of the world, they carve out a home for themselves on the outskirts of town. For decades, their routine of self-reliant domesticity - Wendell's cooking, Frank's care for a yard no one sees, and the vicarious drama of courtroom TV - seems to protect them.
But when Wendell finds Frank lying motionless outside at the age of eighty-three, their carefully crafted life together begins to unravel. As Frank's memory and physical strength deteriorate, Wendell struggles in vain to hold on to the man he once knew. Faced with giving care beyond his capacity, he must come to terms with the consequences of half a century in seclusion: the different lives they might have lived - and the impending, inexorable loss of the one they had.
'This is a great love story' Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story
Wendell Wilson, a taxidermist, and Frank Clifton, a veteran, meet after the Second World War. But, in this declining textile town in a southern US state, their love holds real danger. Severing nearly all ties with the rest of the world, they carve out a home for themselves on the outskirts of town. For decades, their routine of self-reliant domesticity - Wendell's cooking, Frank's care for a yard no one sees, and the vicarious drama of courtroom TV - seems to protect them.
But when Wendell finds Frank lying motionless outside at the age of eighty-three, their carefully crafted life together begins to unravel. As Frank's memory and physical strength deteriorate, Wendell struggles in vain to hold on to the man he once knew. Faced with giving care beyond his capacity, he must come to terms with the consequences of half a century in seclusion: the different lives they might have lived - and the impending, inexorable loss of the one they had.
Reviews / Votes
Tender, restrained, Hide is the freshly imagined story of a gay male couple who decide to give up the world -friends, family, career - in order to live out their forbidden love in the decades before gay liberation. This is a great love story * Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story * Unconventional and entirely convincing ... It's about the way lives and relationships are formed and deformed, sometimes in extreme ways, by repression and the terror of exposure. It's part love story, part horror show ... The book's most convincing scenes offer a very dark vision: like much else in human life, they argue, marriage is hell * Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You * Graceful and understated * New York Times Book Review * Heartbreaking, but also funny ... Hide is dark and deep - almost the proverbial assured debut. I finished it in tears, impatient to see the development of such a talented writer **** * Sofia Laing, Daily Telegraph * Past and present intercut in this tender, exquisitely observed love story that demonstrates the sacrifices made in the name of commitment * Fanny Blake, Daily Mail * One of the best debut novels we've had the pleasure to read this year ... A profoundly compassionate book about how we administer to those we love, the tender acrimony of intimacy and facing loss in a world dominated by threat. The story is understated, poignant, beautifully observed and lingers with you long after you've reluctantly read the final page * Attitude * A deliberately paced, poignant story of two men in love against all the odds ... A remarkable novel * Independent * An extraordinary, subtle, unsettling book. It's a daring, searching, powerful piece of work. He never puts a foot wrong. Those two men, their histories, their difference and the passion that held them loom off the page ... I admired the relentless power of this writing ... Ferocious, unsentimental and masterful * Patricia Duncker, author of Hallucinating Foucault * A tough, thoughtful story beautifully told * Eithne Farry, Sunday Express * A masterful novel. Every page aches with life * Gail Godwin, author of The Good Husband * Reading Matthew Griffin's Hide, I kept saying to myself 'at last!': a novel that follows the trajectory of a marriage (in fact if not in name) between two men over the course of decades, and does so with grit, humour and compassion! Hide is a welcome and important work * David Leavitt, author of The Two Hotel Francforts * Tough but compassionate and beautifully observed, Matthew Griffin's debut novel is an unflinching look at the cost of isolation in an intolerant society and a moving story about the persistence of love * Maggie Shipstead, author of Seating Arrangements * A profound and complex achievement ... Hide renews one's faith in the future of gay fiction * Gregory Woods, author of Homintern * Deeply touching and thought provoking * Scotsman * A fascinating and raw journey * Herald * An intimate examination of the consequences of love lived in secrecy ... An important story to tell, as the voices of elderly lesbian and gay characters are so rarely heard * Big Issue * This is the rare thing: an important, funny, beautifully observed novel about love. A great debut * Stuart Nadler, author of Wise Men * Some love, pressurized by time, and isolation, and prejudice, turns hard, gem-like, buried in protective rock. In Hide, Matthew Griffin has used his considerable talents to cut into and polish the gemstone, allowing us a glimpse at a remarkable love, a costly love, meanly sparkling, and precious * Justin Torres, author of We the Animals * Hide is the best debut I've read in years. Not only is it beautifully written, full of humor and heart, but it's that rare literary beast: a serious novel that's a joy to read. Matthew Griffin is an important and welcome new voice of his generation * John McNally, author of After the Workshop * A small miracle: a bittersweet portrait of love in the shadows * Booklist * Each chapter holds a thousand tiny truths, not just what it is to be in a relationship, or to be gay, but what it is to simply negotiate life. Masterfully written ... Spread the word * Gay Community News *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 135 mm
Weight
401 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4088-6708-2 (9781408867082)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Matthew Griffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He was born and raised in North Carolina and currently lives with his husband in Louisiana, where he is a visiting professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. This is his first novel.
matthewgriffinwriter.com
@mattygrif
matthewgriffinwriter.com
@mattygrif