The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell - #BookReview

"Listen. The trees in this story are stirring, trembling, readjusting themselves. A breeze is coming in gusts off the sea, and it is almost as if the trees know, in their restlessness, in their head-tossing impatience, that something is about to happen."

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 1950's 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.

***

Maggie O'Farrell never disappoints. I have previously read I Am, I Am, I Am, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and After You'd Gone, all of which made for brilliant reading and I cannot wait to read her latest novel, Hamnet, when I can get my hands on a copy.

The book is narrated with two voices; Lexie's in the 1960's and Ted and Elina's in the present day. This method of writing impresses me enormously as it requires a very skilled writer to accomplish it well. The author pulls it off perfectly and the two timelines merge together seamlessly.

From the outset, we can assume that there is some connection between these two timelines. What I really liked about this book is the way in which Ms. O'Farrell only allows the reader to see those connections between the two stories just before she wishes to reveal it. This is exceptional storytelling.

Her writing is beautiful. The italicised paragraph at the top of the review is the opening to this book and I was hooked from there on in and the whole novel is exquisitely written in the same tone throughout. 

It is an incredibly moving and sensitive novel. I was totally immersed in the story as these two timelines converge. I could have cried at points, not something I often do, and it demonstrates how powerful the writing of this book is.

This is one of the best books I have read this year and I highly recommend it.

ISBN: 978 0755308460

Publisher: Tinder Press

About the Author:

• Maggie O’Farrell is the author of the Sunday Times no. 1 bestselling memoir I Am, I Am, I Am, and eight novels: 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, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Costa Novel Award, This Must Be the Place, which Hamnet.
• She lives in Edinburgh.