The Hand That First Held Mine
The Award-Winning Sunday Times Bestseller from the Author of Hamnet
Published on 27. March 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-1-0354-3009-3 (ISBN)
Description
The Sunday Times top 10 bestselling novel from the author of HAMNET and THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT
*Over 400,000 copies sold*
Winner of the 2010 Costa Novel Award
'Exquisitely sensual' Emma Donoghue, author of Room
-----
Fresh out of university and in disgrace, Lexie Sinclair is waiting for life to begin. When the sophisticated Innes Kent turns up on her doorstep in rural Devon, she realises she can wait no longer, and leaves for London. There, Lexie carves out a new life for herself at the heart of bohemian 1950s Soho, with Innes by her side.
In the present, Ted and Elina no longer recognise their lives after the arrival of their first child. Elina, an artist, wonders if she will ever paint again, while Ted is disturbed by memories of his own childhood - memories that don't tally with his parents' version of events.
As Ted's search for answers gathers momentum, so a portrait is revealed of two women separated by fifty years, but linked by their passionate refusal to settle for ordinary lives.
_____
'The journey this novel invites us on is wonderful, involving time travel, heart ache, elation, confusion, freedom, nostalgia and art' Scotland on Sunday
'A skilful, hurtful writer, capable of imbuing the everyday with weight and colour, ridiculously pleasurable to read' Guardian
'Genuinely unputdownable' Literary Review
_____
? What readers are saying; ?
'I look up and several days have passed, unnoticed, because I've been completely absorbed... at the end, I sat back, breathless' ? ? ? ? ?
'Lexie has become one of my favourite heroines' ? ? ? ? ?
'At times I hold my breath, filled with emotion. Beautiful' ? ? ? ? ?
*Over 400,000 copies sold*
Winner of the 2010 Costa Novel Award
'Exquisitely sensual' Emma Donoghue, author of Room
-----
Fresh out of university and in disgrace, Lexie Sinclair is waiting for life to begin. When the sophisticated Innes Kent turns up on her doorstep in rural Devon, she realises she can wait no longer, and leaves for London. There, Lexie carves out a new life for herself at the heart of bohemian 1950s Soho, with Innes by her side.
In the present, Ted and Elina no longer recognise their lives after the arrival of their first child. Elina, an artist, wonders if she will ever paint again, while Ted is disturbed by memories of his own childhood - memories that don't tally with his parents' version of events.
As Ted's search for answers gathers momentum, so a portrait is revealed of two women separated by fifty years, but linked by their passionate refusal to settle for ordinary lives.
_____
'The journey this novel invites us on is wonderful, involving time travel, heart ache, elation, confusion, freedom, nostalgia and art' Scotland on Sunday
'A skilful, hurtful writer, capable of imbuing the everyday with weight and colour, ridiculously pleasurable to read' Guardian
'Genuinely unputdownable' Literary Review
_____
? What readers are saying; ?
'I look up and several days have passed, unnoticed, because I've been completely absorbed... at the end, I sat back, breathless' ? ? ? ? ?
'Lexie has become one of my favourite heroines' ? ? ? ? ?
'At times I hold my breath, filled with emotion. Beautiful' ? ? ? ? ?
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Headline Publishing Group
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 130 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
336 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-0354-3009-3 (9781035430093)
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
Maggie O'Farrell
The Hand That First Held Mine
The Award-Winning Sunday Times Bestseller from the Author of Hamnet
E-Book
04/2010
Tinder Press
€5.49
Available for download
Person
Maggie O'Farrell is the author of HAMNET, Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020, and the memoir I AM, I AM, I AM, both Sunday Times no. 1 bestsellers. Her novels include AFTER YOU'D GONE, MY LOVER'S LOVER, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US, which won a Somerset Maugham Award, THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX, THE HAND THAT FIRST HELD MINE, which won the 2010 Costa Novel Award, INSTRUCTIONS FOR A HEATWAVE, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE and THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT, which was shortlisted for the Women's Prize. She is also the author of three books for children, WHERE SNOW ANGELS GO, THE BOY WHO LOST HIS SPARK and WHEN THE STAMMER CAME TO STAY. She lives in Edinburgh.