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Held

A Novel

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Held

Written by: Anne Michaels
Narrated by: Anne Michaels
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About this listen

 INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE 2024 GILLER PRIZE • Shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize • A Heather's Pick • One of the Globe and Mail’s Best Books of 2023 • Named a Best Book of 2024 by Kirkus Reviews • One of CBC's Best Books of 2024

A breathtaking and mysterious new novel from the beloved Anne Michaels, internationally bestselling author of Fugitive Pieces and The Winter Vault.

1917. On a battlefield near the River Aisne, 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—a chance encounter in a pub by a railway, a hot bath with his lover on a winter night, his childhood on a faraway coast—as the snow falls.

1920. John has returned from war to North Yorkshire, near another river—alive, but not whole. Reunited with Helena, an artist, he reopens his photography business and endeavours to keep on living. But the past erupts insistently into the present, as ghosts begin to surface in his pictures: ghosts whose messages he cannot understand.

So begins a narrative that spans four generations, moments of connection and consequenceigniting and re-ignitingas the century unfolds. In luminous moments of desire, comprehension, longing, and transcendence, the sparks fly upward, working their transformations decades later. This resonance through time—not only of actions but also of feelings and perceptions—desire in its many forms—are at the heart of this novel’s profound investigation.

Held is a deeply affecting and intensely beautiful novel, full of unforgettable characters and imagery, wisdom and compassion. It explores the deepest mysteries, and the ways in which desire in its many forms—and perhaps the deepest desire, to find meaning—manifests itself. Held moves through history to light upon Darwin, Sir Ernest Rutherford, North Sea ganseys, early photography, Ella Mary Leather, modern field hospitals…while lovers find each other and snow drifts down across the centuries. From the WW1 battlefield where the novel begins, and its opening lines, Held is alive with seeking: "We know life is finite. Why should we believe death lasts forever?” 20th Century Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Jewish Heritage Literary Fiction Mystery
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Too airy and lofty. Much too descriptive, too many adjectives, with repetitive descriptions. There is not enough action to permit the reader to identify with the characters. The author tells too much and shows too little. The narrator’s voice is stiff and lacks warmth. I could not finish this book.

Needs grounding

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Clearly a beautiful, poetic piece of literature but the narration was PAINFUL. Monotone and depressing. It flavoured the entire story making it very difficult to stay interested. I only finished it because it was a book club choice. Reading the hard copy would have been a different experience no doubt.

Author should not have narrated

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I did not enjoy the narrator. Her tone was depressing. Would have liked to hear some intonation where appropriate.

I did not finish the book.

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Was hard to follow the store line. The voice was very monotonous lacking emotions and punctuations. Hard to listen

Was hard to follow

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Gave up listening to the audible recording. Monotone delivery and confusing. Purchased the book and the experience was incredibly better. Such a poetic and interesting book. The hard copy of the book delineates the written fragments with space... giving the reader an indication of a change of thought. The audible reading runs everything together. And the actual voice recording is sibilant (harsh s's) and some distortion. My advice buy the book and read it because the writing is extraordinary.

Hard and confusing to listen to the recording.

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