The Hand That First Held Mine
The Award-Winning Sunday Times Bestseller from the Author of Hamnet
Published on 29. April 2010
352 pages
978-0-7553-7327-7 (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
*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
Reviews / Votes
O'Farrell has a remarkable ability to convey the texture of human emotion with precision * <i> Observer </i> * Genuinely unputdownable...evidence of her place as one of Britain's most engaging contemporary novelists * <i> Literary Review </i> * Like Daphne du Maurier...O'Farrell writes books designed to...bring our most primal fears to the surface * <i> Daily Mail </i> * O'Farrell is a skilful, impassioned writer...engaging and fluent * <i> Sunday Telegraph </i> *More details
Edition
Digital original
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Headline Publishing Group
Edition type
Digital original
File size
1,05 MB
ISBN-13
978-0-7553-7327-7 (9780755373277)
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
Book
03/2025
Tinder Press
€14.00
Available immediately
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.
