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The Hand That First Held Mine
A spellbinding novel of two women connected across fifty years by art, love, betrayals, secrets, and motherhood.
Lexie Sinclair is plotting an extraordinary life for herself.
Hedged in by her parents' genteel country life, she plans her escape to London. There, she takes up with Innes Kent, a magazine editor who wears duck-egg blue ties and introduces her to the thrilling, underground world of bohemian, post-war Soho. She learns to be a reporter, to know art and artists, to embrace her life fully and with a deep love at the center of it. She creates many lives--all of them unconventional. And when she finds herself pregnant, she doesn't hesitate to have the baby on her own.
Later, in present-day London, a young painter named Elina dizzily navigates the first weeks of motherhood. She doesn't recognize herself: she finds herself walking outside with no shoes; she goes to the restaurant for lunch at nine in the morning; she can't recall the small matter of giving birth. But for her boyfriend, Ted, fatherhood is calling up lost memories, with images he cannot place.
As Ted's memories become more disconcerting and more frequent, it seems that something might connect these two stories-- these two women-- something that becomes all the more heartbreaking and beautiful as they all hurtle toward its revelation.
Here Maggie O'Farrell brings us a spellbinding novel of two women connected across fifty years by art, love, betrayals, secrets, and motherhood. Like her acclaimed The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, it is a "breathtaking, heart-breaking creation." (The Washington Post Book World) and it is a gorgeous inquiry into the ways we make and unmake our lives, who we know ourselves to be, and how even our most accidental legacies connect us.
Lexie Sinclair is plotting an extraordinary life for herself.
Hedged in by her parents' genteel country life, she plans her escape to London. There, she takes up with Innes Kent, a magazine editor who wears duck-egg blue ties and introduces her to the thrilling, underground world of bohemian, post-war Soho. She learns to be a reporter, to know art and artists, to embrace her life fully and with a deep love at the center of it. She creates many lives--all of them unconventional. And when she finds herself pregnant, she doesn't hesitate to have the baby on her own.
Later, in present-day London, a young painter named Elina dizzily navigates the first weeks of motherhood. She doesn't recognize herself: she finds herself walking outside with no shoes; she goes to the restaurant for lunch at nine in the morning; she can't recall the small matter of giving birth. But for her boyfriend, Ted, fatherhood is calling up lost memories, with images he cannot place.
As Ted's memories become more disconcerting and more frequent, it seems that something might connect these two stories-- these two women-- something that becomes all the more heartbreaking and beautiful as they all hurtle toward its revelation.
Here Maggie O'Farrell brings us a spellbinding novel of two women connected across fifty years by art, love, betrayals, secrets, and motherhood. Like her acclaimed The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, it is a "breathtaking, heart-breaking creation." (The Washington Post Book World) and it is a gorgeous inquiry into the ways we make and unmake our lives, who we know ourselves to be, and how even our most accidental legacies connect us.
341 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
Maggie O'Farrell
41 books13.8k followersMaggie O'Farrell (born 1972, Coleraine Northern Ireland) is a British author of contemporary fiction, who features in Waterstones' 25 Authors for the Future. It is possible to identify several common themes in her novels - the relationship between sisters is one, another is loss and the psychological impact of those losses on the lives of her characters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,714 reviews
January 31, 2019
Edited to make correction. Originally read Aug, 25, 2014.
I loved this novel mostly because of the writing. Yes, I loved the story and the characters too, but from the exquisite opening paragraph it was all about the writing.
“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.”
Something amazing does happen to Lexie and Innes, the characters we first meet. Something happened to this reader, as well. I found myself so immersed in the language and the story to come, from these first words to the very last. It's told with these seemingly simple sentences that are strung together so beautifully to describe the places where they are and to take you into the minds and hearts of these characters.
Maggie O'Farrell opens up to us the London of the 1950's - the arts scene in Soho and you feel as if you are in that city and in that magazine office with Lexie and Innes and you are privy to their aspirations for its success and privy to the profound love they share. Fifty years later we meet Elina and Ted, a couple struggling to come to terms with becoming parents. Elina, after an extremely difficult, life threatening childbirth experience seems lost. You experience her pain and her exhaustion and her helplessness .Ted is having a difficult time both emotionally and mentally, even physically, trying to remember something from his past and you can almost feel his pain.
So many recent books tell past and present stories that are somehow linked. The alternating narratives of Lexie & Innes and Elina and Ted are also connected, but the convergence of these stories, felt different, smoother, more skillfully and beautifully achieved than any other book using this mechanism that I have read. Maybe it was the story itself that touched me or maybe it was all about the detailed poetic language. Maybe it was both. I can only say that I was deeply touched by these characters and their story.
One of my favorites of the year so far.
******************************************
And then at the end there’s a bonus, as if this perfect novel wasn't enough. The e-book version on for kindle includes a beautifully written, heartbreaking short story, “The House I Live In.”
I loved this novel mostly because of the writing. Yes, I loved the story and the characters too, but from the exquisite opening paragraph it was all about the writing.
“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.”
Something amazing does happen to Lexie and Innes, the characters we first meet. Something happened to this reader, as well. I found myself so immersed in the language and the story to come, from these first words to the very last. It's told with these seemingly simple sentences that are strung together so beautifully to describe the places where they are and to take you into the minds and hearts of these characters.
Maggie O'Farrell opens up to us the London of the 1950's - the arts scene in Soho and you feel as if you are in that city and in that magazine office with Lexie and Innes and you are privy to their aspirations for its success and privy to the profound love they share. Fifty years later we meet Elina and Ted, a couple struggling to come to terms with becoming parents. Elina, after an extremely difficult, life threatening childbirth experience seems lost. You experience her pain and her exhaustion and her helplessness .Ted is having a difficult time both emotionally and mentally, even physically, trying to remember something from his past and you can almost feel his pain.
So many recent books tell past and present stories that are somehow linked. The alternating narratives of Lexie & Innes and Elina and Ted are also connected, but the convergence of these stories, felt different, smoother, more skillfully and beautifully achieved than any other book using this mechanism that I have read. Maybe it was the story itself that touched me or maybe it was all about the detailed poetic language. Maybe it was both. I can only say that I was deeply touched by these characters and their story.
One of my favorites of the year so far.
******************************************
And then at the end there’s a bonus, as if this perfect novel wasn't enough. The e-book version on for kindle includes a beautifully written, heartbreaking short story, “The House I Live In.”
May 6, 2021
I love that Maggie O’Farrell began this story by appealing to my aural sense. This is her opening paragraph:
“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.”
“Listen,” O’Farrell says. The trees are listening. The trees don’t listen to just any little ole thing. Something is going to happen. Something important. O’Farrell is going to lay lives bare, revealing the complexities, heartbreak, and magic of relationships, including the first relationship of all, that between parent and child.
O’Farrell then claims our vision, showing us clothing items hanging on a wash line, a baby asleep in a pram, and most importantly a young twenty-one-year old woman, Alexandra, (soon to be known as Lexie) sitting on a tree stump. She shows us a young man, Innes Kent, driving a silver and blue MG, several blocks away, but they will meet soon. “He has no idea what he is looking for but feels that he ought to look anyway.” Kent is a magazine editor who also collects and writes about art. When he sees Lexie for the first time, he sees her in the context of art.
“Art is not a background for Innes. It is what he breathes, what makes life continue, he looks and he doesn’t see a tree, a car, a street, he sees a potential still-life, he sees an interplay of light and shade and colour, he sees a deliberate arrangement of chosen objects.”
What a wonderful gift to be able to see life that way, being forever present in a work of art. That is the skill that O’Farrell also brings to this novel imbuing it with vivid light, colors, and the moving and living breath of people who move about through her words with the nuance of gaze, gesture, and conversation.
There are two timelines, the mid-1950s Britain and a more modern era, where Elina and Ted are introduced. They have a new baby, a boy that will remain unnamed for weeks. I enjoyed how O’Farrell probes equally into Elina’s and Ted’s feelings about the new baby. Ted is a film editor and thinks fatherhood is similar to the “runner” on a film set. The baby is the star of the film and Elina is the director. His role is to fetch, carry, run errands, be supportive. And who knew, Ted thinks, “that the mere act of procreation meant that people suddenly wanted to come around several times a week and sit in your house for hours on end.” How true! When a new mother least feels like entertaining, there are the in-laws, and God knows who else is on the doorstep, to admire the new baby, while the new mother swoons in her pjs, unnoticed until the hungry baby demands her attention.
I was equally invested in both timelines, but was considerably annoyed at not being able to figure out the relationship between the two. For the majority of the book, I felt like I was reading two stories. Be patient. When the relationship between the timelines is revealed, it is climactic and rewarding. I felt as though I knew it all along.
An important theme is transformation, specifically the transition that is made when a new baby makes an entrance. Parenthood, no matter if you’re a mother or father, married or single..., if you’re in charge of a baby, suddenly everything is primal, basic. O’Farrell conveys this so well. Someone depends entirely on you. Feedings, changing diapers, holding, being awake for hours at night, being suddenly at the whim of another creature when previously you only need think of yourself. The time the baby is in utero is physically transformative for the baby but birth begins another stage, another cocoon that envelops the whole of family; hopefully the wings of a new little one with confidence and well-being will eventually emerge. Who can say?
Fullness (satisfaction) and meaning in life are also themes. Art is a motif that points the way to this overarching theme. This was a pivotal quote for me, “Through it, he sees something incredible. Elina, in profile, standing at the sink. She is wearing her overalls and she is doing something, mixing a color, perhaps, or washing a brush, Ted can’t see exactly what. But her movements are deft, practised, and the look on her face is one of absorbed serenity.” It’s important to find your way to whatever brings you “absorbed serenity,” for that is where there is a chance to ascertain the treasure of this one life.
“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.”
“Listen,” O’Farrell says. The trees are listening. The trees don’t listen to just any little ole thing. Something is going to happen. Something important. O’Farrell is going to lay lives bare, revealing the complexities, heartbreak, and magic of relationships, including the first relationship of all, that between parent and child.
O’Farrell then claims our vision, showing us clothing items hanging on a wash line, a baby asleep in a pram, and most importantly a young twenty-one-year old woman, Alexandra, (soon to be known as Lexie) sitting on a tree stump. She shows us a young man, Innes Kent, driving a silver and blue MG, several blocks away, but they will meet soon. “He has no idea what he is looking for but feels that he ought to look anyway.” Kent is a magazine editor who also collects and writes about art. When he sees Lexie for the first time, he sees her in the context of art.
“Art is not a background for Innes. It is what he breathes, what makes life continue, he looks and he doesn’t see a tree, a car, a street, he sees a potential still-life, he sees an interplay of light and shade and colour, he sees a deliberate arrangement of chosen objects.”
What a wonderful gift to be able to see life that way, being forever present in a work of art. That is the skill that O’Farrell also brings to this novel imbuing it with vivid light, colors, and the moving and living breath of people who move about through her words with the nuance of gaze, gesture, and conversation.
There are two timelines, the mid-1950s Britain and a more modern era, where Elina and Ted are introduced. They have a new baby, a boy that will remain unnamed for weeks. I enjoyed how O’Farrell probes equally into Elina’s and Ted’s feelings about the new baby. Ted is a film editor and thinks fatherhood is similar to the “runner” on a film set. The baby is the star of the film and Elina is the director. His role is to fetch, carry, run errands, be supportive. And who knew, Ted thinks, “that the mere act of procreation meant that people suddenly wanted to come around several times a week and sit in your house for hours on end.” How true! When a new mother least feels like entertaining, there are the in-laws, and God knows who else is on the doorstep, to admire the new baby, while the new mother swoons in her pjs, unnoticed until the hungry baby demands her attention.
I was equally invested in both timelines, but was considerably annoyed at not being able to figure out the relationship between the two. For the majority of the book, I felt like I was reading two stories. Be patient. When the relationship between the timelines is revealed, it is climactic and rewarding. I felt as though I knew it all along.
An important theme is transformation, specifically the transition that is made when a new baby makes an entrance. Parenthood, no matter if you’re a mother or father, married or single..., if you’re in charge of a baby, suddenly everything is primal, basic. O’Farrell conveys this so well. Someone depends entirely on you. Feedings, changing diapers, holding, being awake for hours at night, being suddenly at the whim of another creature when previously you only need think of yourself. The time the baby is in utero is physically transformative for the baby but birth begins another stage, another cocoon that envelops the whole of family; hopefully the wings of a new little one with confidence and well-being will eventually emerge. Who can say?
Fullness (satisfaction) and meaning in life are also themes. Art is a motif that points the way to this overarching theme. This was a pivotal quote for me, “Through it, he sees something incredible. Elina, in profile, standing at the sink. She is wearing her overalls and she is doing something, mixing a color, perhaps, or washing a brush, Ted can’t see exactly what. But her movements are deft, practised, and the look on her face is one of absorbed serenity.” It’s important to find your way to whatever brings you “absorbed serenity,” for that is where there is a chance to ascertain the treasure of this one life.
January 30, 2019
4.7, rounded up because I just had to
This writer, this Maggie O’Farrell, just wow. I’ve never read five books by any writer before (and I did this all within a year--what??). That should give you a hint of how ga-ga I am over Maggie dearest. Can I call her Maggie, please, as if we’re all chummy chummy, since I want to be?
What did I like about this book? Well, just about everything. It is 100 percent absorbing. It has the required good characters, plot, and pacing. The characters have depth and they’re relatable. And is it really me talking when I say her descriptions are fantastic? If you know me, you probably know that scenery is often a hot item on my Complaint Board. I never ever require scenery. I’ve had my fill of raindrops on a maple leaf, thank you very much. But Maggie seduces me with how she uses her pen as a paintbrush. With just a few quick, and what seem to be effortless, strokes, she sits her characters down into a space that’s so vivid it makes my head happy. There! I visualize the London settings perfectly, and I didn’t even have to jump through head hoops to see it!
But take all of the list of good qualities and add an item to the top, and that’s the beauteous language, which mesmerized me because of its art but also because it stirred me up and made me feel for her characters. THAT’S what keeps me gushing.
Two stories take turns. One is about Lexie, who escapes a boring rural life and finds herself in the Bohemian scene of 1950s London. She falls in love, and I think it’s that rich relationship I’ll remember the most about this book. The other story takes place 50 years later. It’s about a new mother Elina, who lives with her boyfriend, Ted—both are angsty, but for different reasons. The book is about love—both romantic and maternal--and the intricacies of relationships. And it’s about grief, jealousy, and memory. It’s a long time before you see how the two stories are related, but when the connection is revealed, it’s a humdinger. Oh so cool and satisfying.
It’s always fun when you can relate to the stories, and I could relate to both. When I was 18, I semi-dramatically left suburban New Jersey for the big city of Boston. I didn’t exactly fall into the Bohemian life like Lexie did, (I was more like a hippie with waitressing jobs), but like her I became counter-culture and never looked back. And Elina’s story of motherhood reminded me of my days as a new mother, all the pushes and pulls, the doubts and fatigue, the love you just can’t make sense of. (Don’t worry though—you’ll love this book even if you’ve never been a mom.)
I have to add two other good things to the list. I like how Maggie foreshadows. I think some people get annoyed when they learn early on that something dramatic is going to happen, like why did you have to go and ruin the surprise? But I usually see it as artful; it adds suspense because you don’t yet know how it’s all going to go down. In this book, I loved the foreshadow, the tease, and I thought I had it figured out—but no way.
The other good thing is that O’Farrell makes amazing, seamless transitions. No matter how often she switched scenes, I was not confused, and I was happy to be where I landed.
Whenever I start one of O’Farrell’s books, right off the bat I’m pulled in. I rub my hands together in excitement as I enter her imaginary world. Check out this paragraph, which is a few pages in from the beginning:
“The garden waits. The trees wait. The seagull, balancing in the sky above the washing, waits. And then, just as if this is a stage set and there is an audience, watching from a hushed dark, there are voices. Noises off. Somebody screams, another person shouts, something heavy hits the floor. The back door of the house is wrenched open. ‘I can’t bear it! I tell you, I can’t!’ the someone shrieks. The back door is slammed, resoundingly, and a person appears.”
I see that all I can do is gush, so I might as well stop. You’ve heard one gush, you’ve heard them all. But I can’t help myself: let me just end by saying I think Maggie O’Farrell is the perfect storyteller. She is pure story: she is never preachy, she doesn’t take you on unnecessary side-trips, she doesn’t go all philosophical, and her endings are satisfying. One of my favorite authors, hands down.
P.S. This book is my third favorite book by O’Farrell. It’s only topped by The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and her memoir, I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death—both books made my all-time favorites list. Try all three, please!
This writer, this Maggie O’Farrell, just wow. I’ve never read five books by any writer before (and I did this all within a year--what??). That should give you a hint of how ga-ga I am over Maggie dearest. Can I call her Maggie, please, as if we’re all chummy chummy, since I want to be?
What did I like about this book? Well, just about everything. It is 100 percent absorbing. It has the required good characters, plot, and pacing. The characters have depth and they’re relatable. And is it really me talking when I say her descriptions are fantastic? If you know me, you probably know that scenery is often a hot item on my Complaint Board. I never ever require scenery. I’ve had my fill of raindrops on a maple leaf, thank you very much. But Maggie seduces me with how she uses her pen as a paintbrush. With just a few quick, and what seem to be effortless, strokes, she sits her characters down into a space that’s so vivid it makes my head happy. There! I visualize the London settings perfectly, and I didn’t even have to jump through head hoops to see it!
But take all of the list of good qualities and add an item to the top, and that’s the beauteous language, which mesmerized me because of its art but also because it stirred me up and made me feel for her characters. THAT’S what keeps me gushing.
Two stories take turns. One is about Lexie, who escapes a boring rural life and finds herself in the Bohemian scene of 1950s London. She falls in love, and I think it’s that rich relationship I’ll remember the most about this book. The other story takes place 50 years later. It’s about a new mother Elina, who lives with her boyfriend, Ted—both are angsty, but for different reasons. The book is about love—both romantic and maternal--and the intricacies of relationships. And it’s about grief, jealousy, and memory. It’s a long time before you see how the two stories are related, but when the connection is revealed, it’s a humdinger. Oh so cool and satisfying.
It’s always fun when you can relate to the stories, and I could relate to both. When I was 18, I semi-dramatically left suburban New Jersey for the big city of Boston. I didn’t exactly fall into the Bohemian life like Lexie did, (I was more like a hippie with waitressing jobs), but like her I became counter-culture and never looked back. And Elina’s story of motherhood reminded me of my days as a new mother, all the pushes and pulls, the doubts and fatigue, the love you just can’t make sense of. (Don’t worry though—you’ll love this book even if you’ve never been a mom.)
I have to add two other good things to the list. I like how Maggie foreshadows. I think some people get annoyed when they learn early on that something dramatic is going to happen, like why did you have to go and ruin the surprise? But I usually see it as artful; it adds suspense because you don’t yet know how it’s all going to go down. In this book, I loved the foreshadow, the tease, and I thought I had it figured out—but no way.
The other good thing is that O’Farrell makes amazing, seamless transitions. No matter how often she switched scenes, I was not confused, and I was happy to be where I landed.
Whenever I start one of O’Farrell’s books, right off the bat I’m pulled in. I rub my hands together in excitement as I enter her imaginary world. Check out this paragraph, which is a few pages in from the beginning:
“The garden waits. The trees wait. The seagull, balancing in the sky above the washing, waits. And then, just as if this is a stage set and there is an audience, watching from a hushed dark, there are voices. Noises off. Somebody screams, another person shouts, something heavy hits the floor. The back door of the house is wrenched open. ‘I can’t bear it! I tell you, I can’t!’ the someone shrieks. The back door is slammed, resoundingly, and a person appears.”
I see that all I can do is gush, so I might as well stop. You’ve heard one gush, you’ve heard them all. But I can’t help myself: let me just end by saying I think Maggie O’Farrell is the perfect storyteller. She is pure story: she is never preachy, she doesn’t take you on unnecessary side-trips, she doesn’t go all philosophical, and her endings are satisfying. One of my favorite authors, hands down.
P.S. This book is my third favorite book by O’Farrell. It’s only topped by The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and her memoir, I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death—both books made my all-time favorites list. Try all three, please!
February 10, 2019
”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.”
”A graveled path curves towards the front door of the house. On the washing-line, petticoats and vests, socks and stays, nappies and handkerchiefs snap and writhe in the breeze. A radio can be heard from somewhere, one of the neighbouring houses perhaps, and the muffled thwack of an axe falling on wood.”
And so, I was lost to these words, lost and found in another place in time, which took my breath away. Having just read her ”The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox” mere days ago, which also swept me into her story from the start, I’m once again in awe of her skills as a writer. Not only her ability to craft lovely sentences, paragraphs, but her ability to weave together two stories that join together with such perfection that I am in awe.
Alexandra, or Sandra as her mother calls her (a nickname she detests) will eventually go by “Lexie,” a nickname given her by a man she has not met quite yet. She is twenty-one as this begins, and eager for life beyond the four walls of her parents house, and the small life she has living on this country lane.
”She has a creeping fear of late that what she wants most—for her life to begin, to take on some meaning, to turn from blurred monochrome into glorious technicolour—may pass her by. That she might not recognize it if it comes her way, might fail to grasp for it.”
Innes Kent is just down the road from her at this moment, a thirty-four year old man, an art dealer and journalist, and many more things – but the one thing he is not is a car mechanic – which would certainly come in handy now that his car, a silver and ice-blue MG, has broken down.
It is later on, in 1950’s London is where this story really begins, in and around Soho, and I wandered through these streets with Lexie as she slowly learns what she wants from this life.
An alternating storyline that takes place some fifty or so years later, where we follow the lives of Elina and Ted, which weaves through this book, as well. It all is so seamless that it doesn’t feel disruptive, with transitions that seem effortless and natural.
Many of my friends have read and loved her books, Angela, and Betsy come to mind quickly, as well as Debbie (and her pogo stick), who hasn’t read this one, yet, but has become a fan. Angela’s review for This Must Be the Place was the one I remember wanting to read first, but I’ve read these in the order my library has them available for me – and I’m not complaining! I hate to leave this one behind, but I hear others calling me.
Of note: at the end of this story there is another story – a short story, which others have also mentioned, The House I Live In, which I also loved. A somewhat haunting tale. This story can also be read online:
https://books.google.com/books?id=2DV...
Angela’s review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Betsy’s review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Debbie's review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Many thanks, as well, to the Public Library system, and the many Librarians that manage, organize and keep it running, for the loan of this book!
”A graveled path curves towards the front door of the house. On the washing-line, petticoats and vests, socks and stays, nappies and handkerchiefs snap and writhe in the breeze. A radio can be heard from somewhere, one of the neighbouring houses perhaps, and the muffled thwack of an axe falling on wood.”
And so, I was lost to these words, lost and found in another place in time, which took my breath away. Having just read her ”The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox” mere days ago, which also swept me into her story from the start, I’m once again in awe of her skills as a writer. Not only her ability to craft lovely sentences, paragraphs, but her ability to weave together two stories that join together with such perfection that I am in awe.
Alexandra, or Sandra as her mother calls her (a nickname she detests) will eventually go by “Lexie,” a nickname given her by a man she has not met quite yet. She is twenty-one as this begins, and eager for life beyond the four walls of her parents house, and the small life she has living on this country lane.
”She has a creeping fear of late that what she wants most—for her life to begin, to take on some meaning, to turn from blurred monochrome into glorious technicolour—may pass her by. That she might not recognize it if it comes her way, might fail to grasp for it.”
Innes Kent is just down the road from her at this moment, a thirty-four year old man, an art dealer and journalist, and many more things – but the one thing he is not is a car mechanic – which would certainly come in handy now that his car, a silver and ice-blue MG, has broken down.
It is later on, in 1950’s London is where this story really begins, in and around Soho, and I wandered through these streets with Lexie as she slowly learns what she wants from this life.
An alternating storyline that takes place some fifty or so years later, where we follow the lives of Elina and Ted, which weaves through this book, as well. It all is so seamless that it doesn’t feel disruptive, with transitions that seem effortless and natural.
Many of my friends have read and loved her books, Angela, and Betsy come to mind quickly, as well as Debbie (and her pogo stick), who hasn’t read this one, yet, but has become a fan. Angela’s review for This Must Be the Place was the one I remember wanting to read first, but I’ve read these in the order my library has them available for me – and I’m not complaining! I hate to leave this one behind, but I hear others calling me.
Of note: at the end of this story there is another story – a short story, which others have also mentioned, The House I Live In, which I also loved. A somewhat haunting tale. This story can also be read online:
https://books.google.com/books?id=2DV...
Angela’s review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Betsy’s review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Debbie's review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Many thanks, as well, to the Public Library system, and the many Librarians that manage, organize and keep it running, for the loan of this book!
May 15, 2021
The Hand That First Held Mine, my first book by Irish author Maggie O’Farrell, held me enthralled from the beginning to the end. The evocative opening lines are set in Devon, southwestern England, in the late summer of the mid 1950s. In a house perched on a wind-swept cliff where trees are tossing their heads impatiently, a 21-year-old woman is similarly impatient. She is waiting for her life to begin.
Alexandra (a.k.a Lexie) Sinclair, an attractive and spunky university dropout, finds escape from her stifling rural life when Innes Kent, a London magazine publisher, stops to ask her for directions to a car repair shop. She impulsively leaves for London where she meets Innes again and the two become a couple. Lexie picks up typing and eventually editing at Innes’ magazine, ‘Elsewhere’.
Enter an omniscient narrator who lets us know ahead of time what will happen to Lexie. This is an interesting narrative style. On the one hand, I wished I did not have this information; on the other hand, it compelled me to pay hawkish attention to the unfolding of Lexie’s fate.
The Lexie-Innes connection, however, is only one part of the story. In alternating fashion, we have another couple, Ted and Elina, whose young marriage is plunged headlong into a crisis following the birth of their first child, a traumatic medical emergency which almost killed Elina. Ted, a TV producer, falls in love with Elina, a Finnish artist, when she rents his attic for a place to live and paint. O’Farrell captured sympathetically the stresses that push a marriage to the verge of dissolution when ill health and the unceasing demands of an infant act in concert to assault the couple’s sanity and patience.
Of course, I wondered how these two stories, set 50 years apart, are going to come together. The twin story tracks met and melded seamlessly and credibly, a testament to O’ Farrell’s brilliant skills as a raconteur. Part of the thrill for me as a reader is picking up hints (e.g., a photo in an art exhibition or a priceless painting in a cloak room) along the way like breadcrumbs on the trail to the final denouement. That was most satisfying.
I like how the characters grew in my affection. At first acquaintance, Lexie struck me as a wild, shallow, self-serving, headstrong young woman who is courting trouble. She, however, exceeds expectations. An unexpected turn of events which shattered her heart saw her emerging as a determined, resilient, shrewd journalist whose charm was matched by indomitable courage. Special mention must be made of the two babies – Lexie’s Theo and Elina’s Jonah – who stole my heart with their innocent but tyrannical hold on their parents. Adorable and exasperating at the same time. They both had their mothers at their mercy. Suffice to say, O’Farrell captured a realistic picture of the universal demands of motherhood.
Read The Hand That First Held Mine. It is an amazing story told in flowing and accessible prose. The language is simply beautiful. I look forward to reading more of O’Farrell’s writing.
PS. Overnight, I thought about the merits of this novel - superb narrative structure, impeccable prose, and believable characters - and changed my rating to full five stars.
Alexandra (a.k.a Lexie) Sinclair, an attractive and spunky university dropout, finds escape from her stifling rural life when Innes Kent, a London magazine publisher, stops to ask her for directions to a car repair shop. She impulsively leaves for London where she meets Innes again and the two become a couple. Lexie picks up typing and eventually editing at Innes’ magazine, ‘Elsewhere’.
Enter an omniscient narrator who lets us know ahead of time what will happen to Lexie. This is an interesting narrative style. On the one hand, I wished I did not have this information; on the other hand, it compelled me to pay hawkish attention to the unfolding of Lexie’s fate.
The Lexie-Innes connection, however, is only one part of the story. In alternating fashion, we have another couple, Ted and Elina, whose young marriage is plunged headlong into a crisis following the birth of their first child, a traumatic medical emergency which almost killed Elina. Ted, a TV producer, falls in love with Elina, a Finnish artist, when she rents his attic for a place to live and paint. O’Farrell captured sympathetically the stresses that push a marriage to the verge of dissolution when ill health and the unceasing demands of an infant act in concert to assault the couple’s sanity and patience.
Of course, I wondered how these two stories, set 50 years apart, are going to come together. The twin story tracks met and melded seamlessly and credibly, a testament to O’ Farrell’s brilliant skills as a raconteur. Part of the thrill for me as a reader is picking up hints (e.g., a photo in an art exhibition or a priceless painting in a cloak room) along the way like breadcrumbs on the trail to the final denouement. That was most satisfying.
I like how the characters grew in my affection. At first acquaintance, Lexie struck me as a wild, shallow, self-serving, headstrong young woman who is courting trouble. She, however, exceeds expectations. An unexpected turn of events which shattered her heart saw her emerging as a determined, resilient, shrewd journalist whose charm was matched by indomitable courage. Special mention must be made of the two babies – Lexie’s Theo and Elina’s Jonah – who stole my heart with their innocent but tyrannical hold on their parents. Adorable and exasperating at the same time. They both had their mothers at their mercy. Suffice to say, O’Farrell captured a realistic picture of the universal demands of motherhood.
Read The Hand That First Held Mine. It is an amazing story told in flowing and accessible prose. The language is simply beautiful. I look forward to reading more of O’Farrell’s writing.
PS. Overnight, I thought about the merits of this novel - superb narrative structure, impeccable prose, and believable characters - and changed my rating to full five stars.
February 11, 2021
"She doesn't know that he is coming, getting even closer with every passing second, walking in his hand-made shoes along the roads that separate them, the distance between them shrinking with every well-shod step. Life as she will know it is about to begin but she is absorbed, finally, in her reading, in a long-dead man's struggle with mortality."
Maggie O'Farrell seems to nudge us into remembering.....remembering that one individual that pivoted our life into a completely different direction. An arched eyebrow that pauses and considers a path along a newly suggested highway. And that made all the difference in the world for the better, the best, or the worst.
When Alexandra met Innes Kent, journalist, art dealer, critic, he flipped her heart and flipped her name. She was to be called Lexie from now on. Lexie followed him into a postwar Bohemian lifestyle in the village. Innes tapped into Lexie's freshly untampered mind and introduced her to writing and interviewing and absorbing art and artists along the way. Lexie threw herself into the world of Innes' magazine followed by highs and lows and everything in between.
And as life forms a vine into the heart, romance presented itself between the two. Innes had tasted the world through his experiential background while Lexie embraced it openingly with her fragility and naivete. But Lexie had a hunger for her independence even when she became pregnant. It was always on her terms. And those terms will gives bones to this story.....
Maggie O'Farrell switches gears and takes us to the present with Elina in London stumbling through the first days and weeks of motherhood. She draws us in with Elina's confusion and uncertainty. Elina longs to work in her artist shed in the backyard, but feels the guilt of newly found responsibilities now. Her partner, Ted, seems to distance himself from this turmoil. Elina wonders why she has been the one so changed and so impacted by this birth....and he has not.
Have mercy! Maggie O'Farrell submerges us deeply into the center gravity of this story. There will be a transection within that will lay tracks across their lives. Life circumstances, decisions, calculated risks, and fate thrown to the winds will lean heavily upon them. And O'Farrell keeps her finger on the pulse of these deeply intimate characters who will portray what is good in this world along with what is conniving and machinating.
I have come upon the highly talented Maggie O'Farrell only recently. This is my third novel. Needless to say, I am smittened. Crazy-for-more smittened. She weaves stories like a true wizard. She'll catch us leaning one way and tilt the storyline the other way. Do yourself the ultimate favor and reach for one of her novels. A truly beautiful and satisfying experience.
Maggie O'Farrell seems to nudge us into remembering.....remembering that one individual that pivoted our life into a completely different direction. An arched eyebrow that pauses and considers a path along a newly suggested highway. And that made all the difference in the world for the better, the best, or the worst.
When Alexandra met Innes Kent, journalist, art dealer, critic, he flipped her heart and flipped her name. She was to be called Lexie from now on. Lexie followed him into a postwar Bohemian lifestyle in the village. Innes tapped into Lexie's freshly untampered mind and introduced her to writing and interviewing and absorbing art and artists along the way. Lexie threw herself into the world of Innes' magazine followed by highs and lows and everything in between.
And as life forms a vine into the heart, romance presented itself between the two. Innes had tasted the world through his experiential background while Lexie embraced it openingly with her fragility and naivete. But Lexie had a hunger for her independence even when she became pregnant. It was always on her terms. And those terms will gives bones to this story.....
Maggie O'Farrell switches gears and takes us to the present with Elina in London stumbling through the first days and weeks of motherhood. She draws us in with Elina's confusion and uncertainty. Elina longs to work in her artist shed in the backyard, but feels the guilt of newly found responsibilities now. Her partner, Ted, seems to distance himself from this turmoil. Elina wonders why she has been the one so changed and so impacted by this birth....and he has not.
Have mercy! Maggie O'Farrell submerges us deeply into the center gravity of this story. There will be a transection within that will lay tracks across their lives. Life circumstances, decisions, calculated risks, and fate thrown to the winds will lean heavily upon them. And O'Farrell keeps her finger on the pulse of these deeply intimate characters who will portray what is good in this world along with what is conniving and machinating.
I have come upon the highly talented Maggie O'Farrell only recently. This is my third novel. Needless to say, I am smittened. Crazy-for-more smittened. She weaves stories like a true wizard. She'll catch us leaning one way and tilt the storyline the other way. Do yourself the ultimate favor and reach for one of her novels. A truly beautiful and satisfying experience.
June 18, 2020
Any fiction novel which follows the five or six literary fiction novels I have just finished may well have big shoes to fill but The Hand That First Held Mine held it's own. I do so love it when an author combines combines real people into their story.
After reading this novel, I half expect if I pore over the photographs by John Deakin I shall find images of Lexie and Innes. And likewise, if I go to Soho, I shall find on Bayton Street the faded chalk writing of the word elsewhere in front of the building where Innes' magazine was housed. Indeed, the line between fact and fiction is blurred even more when you realise that one of Deakin's photographs is used for the cover of the book.
I actually spent the whole of the novel wondering if it was really Lexie pictured there as the caption is simply Girl in Cafe.
Also featured from 1960s Soho is the famed Colony Room http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colo... owned by Muriel Belcher, an autocratic and temperamental woman who also appears in the story. Such is the gift of Maggie O'Farrell: she has an incredible talent of weaving fact with fiction; she makes the whole story very personable. She did so in The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox; unmanageable daughters were indeed sent into convents/homes and simply disappeared from families in the early 1900s. And she does so in The Hand That First Held Mine.
This novel opens in Devon, mid 1950s, with a chance meeting between Lexie and a Londoner called Innes. Forward a few months and Lexie has traveled to London, reconnected with Innes, the proprietor of the magazine 'elsewhere', become his fledgling reporter and his lover. It's the bohemian art scene and under Innes' tutelage, Lexie soon carves out a niche for herself as an art critic.
Forward some 50 years and young couple Ted and Elina are new parents. While Elina struggles with first time motherhood, it's Ted's whose life is really wavering. The strange almost trance-like moments he had as a child have returned. He's subject to odd memories that appear to have nothing to do with his early life as he knows it and they start to occur fairly frequently.
Of course, the two narratives are very differently paced; 1950s Soho is a vibrant, burgeoning fast paced scene while Elina's days of new motherhood are hazy, sleep deprived and slow. In O'Farrell's usual manner, the story is very well researched; Soho in the 1950s comes alive for the reader as does new parentage in the new millennium for those not yet initiated into that role. The beauty of The Hand That First Held Mine is it's most unexpected twist. Most will presume, as I did, how the past will connect with the present but the author has a couple of wild cards up her sleeve. The story is quintessential O'Farrell; her prose evocative and resonant and I find it hard to fault. I found the portrait of Soho, the magazine world and the art scene truly fascinating and O'Farrell does acknowledge the book Soho in the Fifties and Sixties by Jonathan Fryer as one of her references. Definitely 4★ here.
After reading this novel, I half expect if I pore over the photographs by John Deakin I shall find images of Lexie and Innes. And likewise, if I go to Soho, I shall find on Bayton Street the faded chalk writing of the word elsewhere in front of the building where Innes' magazine was housed. Indeed, the line between fact and fiction is blurred even more when you realise that one of Deakin's photographs is used for the cover of the book.
I actually spent the whole of the novel wondering if it was really Lexie pictured there as the caption is simply Girl in Cafe. Also featured from 1960s Soho is the famed Colony Room http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colo... owned by Muriel Belcher, an autocratic and temperamental woman who also appears in the story. Such is the gift of Maggie O'Farrell: she has an incredible talent of weaving fact with fiction; she makes the whole story very personable. She did so in The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox; unmanageable daughters were indeed sent into convents/homes and simply disappeared from families in the early 1900s. And she does so in The Hand That First Held Mine.
This novel opens in Devon, mid 1950s, with a chance meeting between Lexie and a Londoner called Innes. Forward a few months and Lexie has traveled to London, reconnected with Innes, the proprietor of the magazine 'elsewhere', become his fledgling reporter and his lover. It's the bohemian art scene and under Innes' tutelage, Lexie soon carves out a niche for herself as an art critic.
Forward some 50 years and young couple Ted and Elina are new parents. While Elina struggles with first time motherhood, it's Ted's whose life is really wavering. The strange almost trance-like moments he had as a child have returned. He's subject to odd memories that appear to have nothing to do with his early life as he knows it and they start to occur fairly frequently.
Of course, the two narratives are very differently paced; 1950s Soho is a vibrant, burgeoning fast paced scene while Elina's days of new motherhood are hazy, sleep deprived and slow. In O'Farrell's usual manner, the story is very well researched; Soho in the 1950s comes alive for the reader as does new parentage in the new millennium for those not yet initiated into that role. The beauty of The Hand That First Held Mine is it's most unexpected twist. Most will presume, as I did, how the past will connect with the present but the author has a couple of wild cards up her sleeve. The story is quintessential O'Farrell; her prose evocative and resonant and I find it hard to fault. I found the portrait of Soho, the magazine world and the art scene truly fascinating and O'Farrell does acknowledge the book Soho in the Fifties and Sixties by Jonathan Fryer as one of her references. Definitely 4★ here.
June 27, 2020
5 Earth Shattering Stars!!
A brilliant portrayal of motherhood and a mother’s love that is transcendent. Maggie O’Farrell captures so much more- the exhaustion, the anxieties, the joys, the overall magnitude of what a mother is.
“ It’s a special thing you have with him. It’s like he has this internal timer that measures how long he hasn’t seen you and without warning it can just go off and nothing else will mollify him.”
This book tugged at my heart and left me aching for more. Maggie O’Farrell is a superb writer-she seamlessly transitions between two time periods. Often, when writers flit between the past and the present, I find myself liking one time period more than the other. Not in this book- I loved both equally.
This book had me on pins and needles- even though there was a foreshadowing, I could barely breathe waiting for the moment- the moment of truth!!.
An exquisite book that I highly recommend!
Thanks to Betsy , Cheri and Angela, whose reviews made me move this up my TBR!!
A brilliant portrayal of motherhood and a mother’s love that is transcendent. Maggie O’Farrell captures so much more- the exhaustion, the anxieties, the joys, the overall magnitude of what a mother is.
“ It’s a special thing you have with him. It’s like he has this internal timer that measures how long he hasn’t seen you and without warning it can just go off and nothing else will mollify him.”
This book tugged at my heart and left me aching for more. Maggie O’Farrell is a superb writer-she seamlessly transitions between two time periods. Often, when writers flit between the past and the present, I find myself liking one time period more than the other. Not in this book- I loved both equally.
This book had me on pins and needles- even though there was a foreshadowing, I could barely breathe waiting for the moment- the moment of truth!!.
An exquisite book that I highly recommend!
Thanks to Betsy , Cheri and Angela, whose reviews made me move this up my TBR!!
June 17, 2020
5 🎨 🎨 🎨 🎨 🎨
I am, I am, I am in love with Maggie O’Farrell’s writing.
She captivates then mesmerizes me completely. Currently I am basking in the afterglow of this tale of two extraordinary women living years apart, their lives eventually connecting, though they will never meet.
My hand was resting over my heart when I finished and I was a bit emotional, yes I was, and now I can’t wait to read everything she’s written.
I made use of both the eBook and audio from Overdrive and discovered just how much my mind wanders when I’m listening instead of reading. I would go back and read after getting distracted or nodding off, honestly believing I hadn’t missed much—W.R.O.N.G.
The audio was great, but my brain is just too distracted to do justice to a work if I use that format. Her words are never wasted and they are put to such exquisite purpose you can't afford to miss out.
I am, I am, I am in love with Maggie O’Farrell’s writing.
She captivates then mesmerizes me completely. Currently I am basking in the afterglow of this tale of two extraordinary women living years apart, their lives eventually connecting, though they will never meet.
My hand was resting over my heart when I finished and I was a bit emotional, yes I was, and now I can’t wait to read everything she’s written.
I made use of both the eBook and audio from Overdrive and discovered just how much my mind wanders when I’m listening instead of reading. I would go back and read after getting distracted or nodding off, honestly believing I hadn’t missed much—W.R.O.N.G.
The audio was great, but my brain is just too distracted to do justice to a work if I use that format. Her words are never wasted and they are put to such exquisite purpose you can't afford to miss out.
May 9, 2021
Maggie O'Farrel is one of those authors I really want to read, but everytime I grab one of her books, I'm easily sidetracked. Not that I don't want to read her, I just feel you need to concentrate and immerse yourself in the story. Hectic lives...sometimes those types of reads get pushed aside. So I was very happy that when looking for a Buddy read with Dana, she was up for this one as we both wanted to read it.
The Hand That First Held Mine is a story that is told in interweaving, alternating timelines. We first meet Lexie and you learn about her young life at home. Then you switch to the other story, where you meet Elina, who has just had a very troubling birth of her first child with her boyfriend Ted. I was immediately drawn into Lexie's story, as you watch her meet Innes and how the two become an item. How he sorta takes her under his wing, living in the trendy, artsy area of Soho. Elina and Ted's story took a bit of time to grasp, with Elina being out of it after her childbirth. But you see how this story slowly unfolds, not realizing how these stories are tied together. And when you do, it draws you in even more. Up until that very powerful ending.
We grabbed the audio narration, and while I loved the narrator, I was getting lost. I had to concentrate and needed the print. I went back and forth a few times, but felt in this case the print worked better for me. It take me some time to get started as I was not that into Elina's story at first. But Lexie, I wanted to know more, I wanted to know more of the paintings that Innes has, where they came from, etc. We both really enjoyed this story and how it unfolded. A great buddy read. This is my second book by O'Farrell, and while I liked both reads, I might have to give the upper hand to this one. Now, I'll try another, and probably just go with the print.
The Hand That First Held Mine is a story that is told in interweaving, alternating timelines. We first meet Lexie and you learn about her young life at home. Then you switch to the other story, where you meet Elina, who has just had a very troubling birth of her first child with her boyfriend Ted. I was immediately drawn into Lexie's story, as you watch her meet Innes and how the two become an item. How he sorta takes her under his wing, living in the trendy, artsy area of Soho. Elina and Ted's story took a bit of time to grasp, with Elina being out of it after her childbirth. But you see how this story slowly unfolds, not realizing how these stories are tied together. And when you do, it draws you in even more. Up until that very powerful ending.
We grabbed the audio narration, and while I loved the narrator, I was getting lost. I had to concentrate and needed the print. I went back and forth a few times, but felt in this case the print worked better for me. It take me some time to get started as I was not that into Elina's story at first. But Lexie, I wanted to know more, I wanted to know more of the paintings that Innes has, where they came from, etc. We both really enjoyed this story and how it unfolded. A great buddy read. This is my second book by O'Farrell, and while I liked both reads, I might have to give the upper hand to this one. Now, I'll try another, and probably just go with the print.
September 27, 2018
This book left me breathless, gulping, and sobbing. Maggie O’Farrell is a master—of story, structure, and my god, transitions! But that is stuff writers swoon over. For readers there is a great story of family connections that transcend known facts. It’s about the truths we intuit and how they can nag, direct, and torture us until we bring them into consciousness and the now. A wonderful book!
By the way, the Kindle edition also has a wonderful short story called “The House I Live In”—an appropriate addition to this novel.
By the way, the Kindle edition also has a wonderful short story called “The House I Live In”—an appropriate addition to this novel.
January 8, 2023
Qué agradable es leer algo tan bien escrito.
La historia es preciosa, dos maternidades valientes que convergen en un punto del tiempo y el espacio.
El ritmo está fenomenal, va saltando de una historia a la otra sin aburrir para nada.
Los personajes son muy buenos, aunque a veces puedan llegar a exasperarnos un poco, son tan reales que parece que los estás viendo.
Pero el estilo es el claro vencedor en esta narración, madre mía... quería leer partes en voz alta todo el tiempo. Me ha encantado, es limpio, bello y cercano. Qué maravilla desde el primer párrafo que releí no sé cuántas veces. Un aplauso también para la traductora, que muy poco se habla de este trabajo cuando está bien hecho. Voy a regalar al menos dos ejemplares esta Navidad.
Verás. Los árboles de esta historia empiezan a agitarse, tiemblan, se recolocan. Soplan unas ráfagas de brisa marina y se diría que los árboles, por su inquietud, por la impaciencia con la que mueven la copa, sepan que va a pasar algo.
Leedlo.
La historia es preciosa, dos maternidades valientes que convergen en un punto del tiempo y el espacio.
El ritmo está fenomenal, va saltando de una historia a la otra sin aburrir para nada.
Los personajes son muy buenos, aunque a veces puedan llegar a exasperarnos un poco, son tan reales que parece que los estás viendo.
Pero el estilo es el claro vencedor en esta narración, madre mía... quería leer partes en voz alta todo el tiempo. Me ha encantado, es limpio, bello y cercano. Qué maravilla desde el primer párrafo que releí no sé cuántas veces. Un aplauso también para la traductora, que muy poco se habla de este trabajo cuando está bien hecho. Voy a regalar al menos dos ejemplares esta Navidad.
Verás. Los árboles de esta historia empiezan a agitarse, tiemblan, se recolocan. Soplan unas ráfagas de brisa marina y se diría que los árboles, por su inquietud, por la impaciencia con la que mueven la copa, sepan que va a pasar algo.
Leedlo.
June 17, 2010
Oh no, another favourite author releasing a new title – cue the sickening feelings of anxiety when I settle into the story , wondering if it will meet my expectations but any fears are quickly assuaged as I become immersed in this, Maggie O’ Farrell’s fifth novel. I devoured it in a few sittings – one of those books you are eager to embrace but loath to leave.
Like it’s predecessor, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, there is a cleverly woven dual narrative, one set in the 1950s/1960s in Bohemian London and the contemporary story, again set in London. In the 50s setting, Lexie leaves the bucolic setting of her family home in Devon at the tender age of 21, intent on finding a new life in London. She meets and is seduced by Innes Kent, a seemingly most unsuitable partner and they fall for each other, working together on a magazine in Soho. From an, at times, irritating ingenue Lexie develops into a strong, independent woman working her way up in the male dominated sector of journalism. It’s fair to say that life does not treat her that kindly – she becomes a single mother without any family support, her family disowns her when she takes up with Innes.
The modern day story focuses on Elina, a Finnish painter who lives with her partner, Ted. When we first encounter Elina she seems to be suffering some sort of post-traumatic disorder following a particuarly harrowing emergency caesarean birth and to begin with, motherhood does not sit very well with her especially as she seems to have blotted out all memories of giving birth. Later, Ted is the one to suffer flashbacks of suppressed memories and you start to wonder if this couple can withstand the immediate changes brought to the dynamic of their relationship by the arrival of the Baby. I must say, it’s refreshing to see a novelist showing how new parenthood can cause a seismic shift in a partnership – it doesn’t matter what class you are, how old you are, being a parent makes you feel more vulnerable.
There is a link between these two stories, a connection which gradually reveals itself as the novel progresses with a series of teasing hints and clues sprinkled in the narrative. However, I feel that the bridge between the two stories is less important than the common themes which colour both – there is love, romantic love, platonic love, maternal love, paternal love, infatuation, passion, contentment in another’s company. There is loss and grief and how we deal with such facts of life. There is the recurrent motif of family secrets and lies which can cloud future generations. Maggie O’ Farrell is an expert at portraying well rounded, feisty female characters but here she also succeeds in capturing a very strong sense of male sensibilities via Ted and also Innes. It certainly serves to create a more balanced storyline to have both male and female perspectives, especially how the different male characters react to fatherhood.
It’s clear that Maggie O’ Farrell has done her research – I could sense the sounds, sights and smells of 50s Soho and in the modern day setting, I could empathise with the trauma of an emergency caesarean and the slightly surreal atmosphere which accompanies the arrival of your first child. She has a lightness of touch which tempers the research and lets the narrative flow. Yes, it’s a novel which deals with a lot of sadness and grief but there is a feeling of optimism, of looking ahead also which lifts it from the doldrums.
So, not that I’m impatient but….when will we get the next novel? I don’t think I can wait another four years….
Like it’s predecessor, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, there is a cleverly woven dual narrative, one set in the 1950s/1960s in Bohemian London and the contemporary story, again set in London. In the 50s setting, Lexie leaves the bucolic setting of her family home in Devon at the tender age of 21, intent on finding a new life in London. She meets and is seduced by Innes Kent, a seemingly most unsuitable partner and they fall for each other, working together on a magazine in Soho. From an, at times, irritating ingenue Lexie develops into a strong, independent woman working her way up in the male dominated sector of journalism. It’s fair to say that life does not treat her that kindly – she becomes a single mother without any family support, her family disowns her when she takes up with Innes.
The modern day story focuses on Elina, a Finnish painter who lives with her partner, Ted. When we first encounter Elina she seems to be suffering some sort of post-traumatic disorder following a particuarly harrowing emergency caesarean birth and to begin with, motherhood does not sit very well with her especially as she seems to have blotted out all memories of giving birth. Later, Ted is the one to suffer flashbacks of suppressed memories and you start to wonder if this couple can withstand the immediate changes brought to the dynamic of their relationship by the arrival of the Baby. I must say, it’s refreshing to see a novelist showing how new parenthood can cause a seismic shift in a partnership – it doesn’t matter what class you are, how old you are, being a parent makes you feel more vulnerable.
There is a link between these two stories, a connection which gradually reveals itself as the novel progresses with a series of teasing hints and clues sprinkled in the narrative. However, I feel that the bridge between the two stories is less important than the common themes which colour both – there is love, romantic love, platonic love, maternal love, paternal love, infatuation, passion, contentment in another’s company. There is loss and grief and how we deal with such facts of life. There is the recurrent motif of family secrets and lies which can cloud future generations. Maggie O’ Farrell is an expert at portraying well rounded, feisty female characters but here she also succeeds in capturing a very strong sense of male sensibilities via Ted and also Innes. It certainly serves to create a more balanced storyline to have both male and female perspectives, especially how the different male characters react to fatherhood.
It’s clear that Maggie O’ Farrell has done her research – I could sense the sounds, sights and smells of 50s Soho and in the modern day setting, I could empathise with the trauma of an emergency caesarean and the slightly surreal atmosphere which accompanies the arrival of your first child. She has a lightness of touch which tempers the research and lets the narrative flow. Yes, it’s a novel which deals with a lot of sadness and grief but there is a feeling of optimism, of looking ahead also which lifts it from the doldrums.
So, not that I’m impatient but….when will we get the next novel? I don’t think I can wait another four years….
February 28, 2022
And just like that, Sarah Jessica Par… Ahem… sorry… I meant Grey’s Anatom… Bloody hell… What’s wrong with Mr. Big? What about George Clooney, is he married? And do you think Julia Roberts had some work done, I mean, plastic surgery, or is she just naturally gorgeous even in her mid fifties? Did you like her more in Pretty Woman or in Sleeping With the Enemy? I really think she was great in Erin Brockovich. To be fair, she’s always great and looks great and life’s great and some people like to read about some random guys and the lines of hair that go down from their chests to their bellybuttons and from there to their… Hum… Tornadoes; according to the news, there were some really strong ones in America last week. Poor people, having to get a booster jab right now for that new covid variant that came out two weeks ago. On the other hand, it’s amazing to think how much quicker and easier it is just to grab a ready meal on our way home, isn’t it? It saves so much time and hassle. And we all need more time now, with all the Christmas shopping, decoration and all that jazz. Hohoho!!! So happy for Britney Spears as well. It really was time for her to finally break free… God knows, I want to break free too. We all need to break free. Let’s just go back to the caves, write on the walls and pretend nothing happened until now.
October 7, 2023
The Hand That First Held Mine is a restless and unsettling novel that I couldn't set down and still can't shake. It twins tragedy with chance and the result is sweetly wistful. Haunting. Inevitable.
Two storylines separated by decades run parallel until at last they intertwine. In the first, Lexie Sinclair, a young woman from a middle class country family, is lured to London after a chance meeting with an exotic stranger. It's the mid-1950s and the city is still shaking off its wartime gloom. Lexie finds employment as a typist for a newly-launched arts and culture magazine, elsewhere, and falls into a love affair with its unhappily married editor, Innes Kent. Their love endures and as the magazine's star rises, Lexie becomes an established art critic. But as is the way of the world, she also finds herself raising a baby alone.
The second storyline emerges in present-day London, in the home Ted shares with his Finnish girlfriend, Elina, a painter whose work is beginning to garner serious attention. After a brutal Cesarean section, Elina returns home with her newborn son. The first weeks of motherhood pass in a haze of pain and bewilderment, as Elina moves from one feeding to the next, uncertain of the hours in between. The baby, for whom his parents can't settle on a name, is beloved and easy-going and Elina gradually regains her strength and mental center. But strangely, Ted begins to experience brief fugue states that he can't describe, much less explain. It's as if his son's birth has opened a door into a tunnel of memory but he can't get past the entrance to explore deeper inside.
How these stories will resolve themselves as a single narrative runs as an uneasy, tense current beneath the alluring but melancholy façade of these characters' lives. Maggie O'Farrell writes with such grace and heart, a Kate Atkinson-inspired ironical charm married with an Ian McEwan emotional intensity that is gorgeous and fluent. I loved this heartfelt, resonant tangle of secrets that is an elegant ode to motherhood and the fragility of life.
Two storylines separated by decades run parallel until at last they intertwine. In the first, Lexie Sinclair, a young woman from a middle class country family, is lured to London after a chance meeting with an exotic stranger. It's the mid-1950s and the city is still shaking off its wartime gloom. Lexie finds employment as a typist for a newly-launched arts and culture magazine, elsewhere, and falls into a love affair with its unhappily married editor, Innes Kent. Their love endures and as the magazine's star rises, Lexie becomes an established art critic. But as is the way of the world, she also finds herself raising a baby alone.
The second storyline emerges in present-day London, in the home Ted shares with his Finnish girlfriend, Elina, a painter whose work is beginning to garner serious attention. After a brutal Cesarean section, Elina returns home with her newborn son. The first weeks of motherhood pass in a haze of pain and bewilderment, as Elina moves from one feeding to the next, uncertain of the hours in between. The baby, for whom his parents can't settle on a name, is beloved and easy-going and Elina gradually regains her strength and mental center. But strangely, Ted begins to experience brief fugue states that he can't describe, much less explain. It's as if his son's birth has opened a door into a tunnel of memory but he can't get past the entrance to explore deeper inside.
How these stories will resolve themselves as a single narrative runs as an uneasy, tense current beneath the alluring but melancholy façade of these characters' lives. Maggie O'Farrell writes with such grace and heart, a Kate Atkinson-inspired ironical charm married with an Ian McEwan emotional intensity that is gorgeous and fluent. I loved this heartfelt, resonant tangle of secrets that is an elegant ode to motherhood and the fragility of life.
March 9, 2021
I was unsure as I began this Maggie O’Farrell novel if it was going to impress me as her other works have. It seemed to be two stories, being told in short installments, disconnected from one another; and the transitions were sometimes jarring. I would have just developed a real interest in one narrative and, boom, we were off to the other one. I should have had more faith. Maggie O’Farrell is an author who knows exactly what she is doing.
In a way, this is a story about motherhood, about the transformation a baby can make in a life, about the bond that isn’t severed, even by death. And, O’Farrell understands this bond, captures it flawlessly.
She considers what to say. Should she mention the nights spent awake, the number of times she must wash her hands in a day, the endless drying and folding of tiny clothes, the packing and unpacking of bags containing clothes, nappies, wipes, the scar across her abdomen, crooked and leering, the utter loneliness of it all, the hours she spends kneeling on the floor, a rattle or a bell or a fabric block in her hands, that she sometimes gets the urge to stop older women in the street and say, how did you do it, how did you live through it? Or she could mention that she had been unprepared for this fierce spring in her, this feeling that isn’t covered by the word ‘love’, which is far too small for it, that sometimes she thinks she might faint with the urgency of her feeling for him, that sometimes she misses him desperately even when he is right there, that it’s like a form of madness, of possession that often she has to creep into the room when he has fallen asleep just to look at him, to check, to whisper to him.
Of course, that isn’t all this book is about. It is about longing and loving, jealousy, the building of new lives when old ones fall apart, the finding of self; it is a book about living. I suspect Maggie O'Farrell has done some of that as well.
In a way, this is a story about motherhood, about the transformation a baby can make in a life, about the bond that isn’t severed, even by death. And, O’Farrell understands this bond, captures it flawlessly.
She considers what to say. Should she mention the nights spent awake, the number of times she must wash her hands in a day, the endless drying and folding of tiny clothes, the packing and unpacking of bags containing clothes, nappies, wipes, the scar across her abdomen, crooked and leering, the utter loneliness of it all, the hours she spends kneeling on the floor, a rattle or a bell or a fabric block in her hands, that she sometimes gets the urge to stop older women in the street and say, how did you do it, how did you live through it? Or she could mention that she had been unprepared for this fierce spring in her, this feeling that isn’t covered by the word ‘love’, which is far too small for it, that sometimes she thinks she might faint with the urgency of her feeling for him, that sometimes she misses him desperately even when he is right there, that it’s like a form of madness, of possession that often she has to creep into the room when he has fallen asleep just to look at him, to check, to whisper to him.
Of course, that isn’t all this book is about. It is about longing and loving, jealousy, the building of new lives when old ones fall apart, the finding of self; it is a book about living. I suspect Maggie O'Farrell has done some of that as well.
December 30, 2023
Podia dar menos de 5*? Não podia, chorei mais que Madalena, fiquei com o coração em pedacinhos, mas tive o deleite de ver nas palavras de Maggie o que penso e sinto com a maternidade. Adorei estas duas mães e rendi-me à forma como a autora teceu esta trança de afetos, e como fez de algumas passagens um sublime exercício de escrita.
September 8, 2016
In sneltreinvaart uitgelezen...twee verhalen die met elkaar verbonden zijn in heden en verleden. Soms ietwat quasi intellectueel, maar zo goed geschreven dat je meegetrokken wordt in het verhaal en alleen maar door wil lezen...Relatie's en moederschap zijn de overheersende thema's...prachtige roman!!
October 8, 2021
O'Farrell invites and entices me into her story:
“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.”
She artfully weaves two storylines of very different tones together, layering the past and its influence on the present. Lexie's story begins with her leaving her countryside home and heading to London where she falls in love, finds her career, and blossoms. I admire her character; Lexie is exuberant, confident, and saucy. Elina's story begins with her in a semi-hallucinatory state just after the birth of her son. Elina feels alienated from her former self and struggles to cope with new motherhood. She is a much more muted character, and it takes me a while to connect with her.
These two protagonists are linked in that they are both beginning new life journeys, both are passionate about their work, and both become mothers during the course of the narrative. Both women are taken aback by the love they feel for their sons. Lexie writes "Our hearts begin to live outside our bodies. They breathe, they eat, they crawl and-look!-they walk, they begin to speak to us." Elina thinks, "she had been unprepared for this fierce spring in her, this feeling that isn't covered by the word 'love,' which is far too small for it." I recognize these feelings. I have them for our daughters, and they are just as intense 30 years later.
The Hand That First Held Mine also explores the unreliability of memory and of the stories we are told about ourselves. Likewise,Ted, Elina's boyfriend, is captured by the process of becoming a parent. He has been unable to recall his early childhood. With the birth of their son he begins to have flashes of memory that don't fit with the childhood he does remember. These flashes provide clues to the connection between the two storylines.
This story shows the passions of relationships in all their messiness--those between lovers and those between parents and children. It tells of loss and absence and how this can create a permanent ache. And O'Farrell's understated and lyrical prose is a joy to read.
“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.”
She artfully weaves two storylines of very different tones together, layering the past and its influence on the present. Lexie's story begins with her leaving her countryside home and heading to London where she falls in love, finds her career, and blossoms. I admire her character; Lexie is exuberant, confident, and saucy. Elina's story begins with her in a semi-hallucinatory state just after the birth of her son. Elina feels alienated from her former self and struggles to cope with new motherhood. She is a much more muted character, and it takes me a while to connect with her.
These two protagonists are linked in that they are both beginning new life journeys, both are passionate about their work, and both become mothers during the course of the narrative. Both women are taken aback by the love they feel for their sons. Lexie writes "Our hearts begin to live outside our bodies. They breathe, they eat, they crawl and-look!-they walk, they begin to speak to us." Elina thinks, "she had been unprepared for this fierce spring in her, this feeling that isn't covered by the word 'love,' which is far too small for it." I recognize these feelings. I have them for our daughters, and they are just as intense 30 years later.
The Hand That First Held Mine also explores the unreliability of memory and of the stories we are told about ourselves. Likewise,Ted, Elina's boyfriend, is captured by the process of becoming a parent. He has been unable to recall his early childhood. With the birth of their son he begins to have flashes of memory that don't fit with the childhood he does remember. These flashes provide clues to the connection between the two storylines.
This story shows the passions of relationships in all their messiness--those between lovers and those between parents and children. It tells of loss and absence and how this can create a permanent ache. And O'Farrell's understated and lyrical prose is a joy to read.
December 30, 2010
Although choosing a favourite author is tough, when forced to do so I would more often than not, answer with Maggie O'Farrell as mine. I find her style of writing beautiful, almost melodic and so incredibley descriptive and evocative of the senses that you really feel like you step into the world of the characters whilst reading.
However, this was based on her first three books, and I have to say that despite being SO excited for the release of 'The Vanishing Act of Esme May' (only book I've ever pre-ordered!) I wasn't as enthralled as I'd hoped. In fact I was quite disappointed afterwards. Now with the release of 'The Hand That First Held Mine' it feels like Maggie O'Farrell has conciously changed paths as an author, now prefering to write historical fiction based in past worlds and decades. I totally respect her decision to do this but personally, I feel she has lost the edge and suspense and pase her previous books had.
The Hand That First Held Mine follows two seperate stories of female characters living in London in different decades - fifty years apart - told side by side. Lexi is a frustrated country girl of the 1950s, who gives up her family and home to escape to the bright lights of London and in it finds love, a career and what it is to lose them. In the modern day, Elina is a Finnish girl living in London with her boyfriend Ted. The complicated arrival of their baby stirs lost feelings and memories in both of them, and pushes their relationship to breaking point as they both scramble to do the best for their newborn son. Although both stories play out seperately; small clues and tiny blink-and-you'll-miss-them hints sewn into each story slowly reveal that perhaps there is more intertwining them than first meets the eye...
As I said, Maggie O'Farrell writes poetically and this book is no different. The book is also incredibly realistic and well researched; from the descriptions of bustling Soho to the uncomfortable rawness of how parenthood can be intensely wonderful but also twist and challenge lives and relationships. The book taps into an obsession of mine which is thinking about what buildings were in previous incarnations before my lifetime in London, and what they would have looked like and everything that happened in them and on the roads outside. I love thinking about who walked down the same streets as me and what they were doing and wearing and thinking. Maggie O'Farrell writes this into the book beautifully.
However the reason this isn't a 5* review is just that I felt the storylines were slightly predictable and clumsy in parts. Shock occurances leap from nowhere in places and then nothing happens for chapter after chapter. In particular I felt Elinas storyline very repetative and sluggish, compared to Lexis vibrant almost too drama-packed life. I'm sure this juxtaposition was intended but I felt it really jarred sometimes and I'd be tempted to flick past Elinas sections to get back to the 1950s.
I would definitely recommend this book for reading, as it's another high quality book from an extremely talented author, but I would also say if you've never read a Maggie O'Farrell novel that it'd be better to start with The Distance Between or My Lovers Lover which I consider up there in my favourite ever books.
However, this was based on her first three books, and I have to say that despite being SO excited for the release of 'The Vanishing Act of Esme May' (only book I've ever pre-ordered!) I wasn't as enthralled as I'd hoped. In fact I was quite disappointed afterwards. Now with the release of 'The Hand That First Held Mine' it feels like Maggie O'Farrell has conciously changed paths as an author, now prefering to write historical fiction based in past worlds and decades. I totally respect her decision to do this but personally, I feel she has lost the edge and suspense and pase her previous books had.
The Hand That First Held Mine follows two seperate stories of female characters living in London in different decades - fifty years apart - told side by side. Lexi is a frustrated country girl of the 1950s, who gives up her family and home to escape to the bright lights of London and in it finds love, a career and what it is to lose them. In the modern day, Elina is a Finnish girl living in London with her boyfriend Ted. The complicated arrival of their baby stirs lost feelings and memories in both of them, and pushes their relationship to breaking point as they both scramble to do the best for their newborn son. Although both stories play out seperately; small clues and tiny blink-and-you'll-miss-them hints sewn into each story slowly reveal that perhaps there is more intertwining them than first meets the eye...
As I said, Maggie O'Farrell writes poetically and this book is no different. The book is also incredibly realistic and well researched; from the descriptions of bustling Soho to the uncomfortable rawness of how parenthood can be intensely wonderful but also twist and challenge lives and relationships. The book taps into an obsession of mine which is thinking about what buildings were in previous incarnations before my lifetime in London, and what they would have looked like and everything that happened in them and on the roads outside. I love thinking about who walked down the same streets as me and what they were doing and wearing and thinking. Maggie O'Farrell writes this into the book beautifully.
However the reason this isn't a 5* review is just that I felt the storylines were slightly predictable and clumsy in parts. Shock occurances leap from nowhere in places and then nothing happens for chapter after chapter. In particular I felt Elinas storyline very repetative and sluggish, compared to Lexis vibrant almost too drama-packed life. I'm sure this juxtaposition was intended but I felt it really jarred sometimes and I'd be tempted to flick past Elinas sections to get back to the 1950s.
I would definitely recommend this book for reading, as it's another high quality book from an extremely talented author, but I would also say if you've never read a Maggie O'Farrell novel that it'd be better to start with The Distance Between or My Lovers Lover which I consider up there in my favourite ever books.
September 20, 2024
She read the note twice and the postscript three times. She folds it and puts it into the pocket of her blue dress. She sits down on the tree stump in the dark.. She is Lexie. She is going to London. She will have lunches with men in duck-egg ties. (PG 34)
This is a story about love and loss and vengeance waiting to pounce from the shadows. The novel goes back and forth from Lexie to Ted. I was not a fan of Ted's story too much. I wanted to go back to Lexie and wish it had been about her 90% of the novel. She interested me so much more than the present day linking to the past bit.
I think the story is meant to show us we can have all the plans in the world and be "independent" and "the master of your own destiny" but life surprises you and one thing can be your domino effect. Your path gets interrupted by others or simply death, whether it's your own or someone you love.
As for Ted, how far do memories go back? He's finding long lost memories but can't connect them to anything useful so when he asks his parents they give him the runaround or lies.
Lexie, the star of the novel, was a badass of a woman when women were publicly denounced for having careers or being with a man without the marriage part. Her personality was fascinating and direct, a real goal getter, no BS kind of lady.
Maggie O'Farrell is one badass herself. I've loved all her books and I've enjoyed getting to know her characters. So far I've never had a disappointment.
This is a story about love and loss and vengeance waiting to pounce from the shadows. The novel goes back and forth from Lexie to Ted. I was not a fan of Ted's story too much. I wanted to go back to Lexie and wish it had been about her 90% of the novel. She interested me so much more than the present day linking to the past bit.
I think the story is meant to show us we can have all the plans in the world and be "independent" and "the master of your own destiny" but life surprises you and one thing can be your domino effect. Your path gets interrupted by others or simply death, whether it's your own or someone you love.
As for Ted, how far do memories go back? He's finding long lost memories but can't connect them to anything useful so when he asks his parents they give him the runaround or lies.
Lexie, the star of the novel, was a badass of a woman when women were publicly denounced for having careers or being with a man without the marriage part. Her personality was fascinating and direct, a real goal getter, no BS kind of lady.
Maggie O'Farrell is one badass herself. I've loved all her books and I've enjoyed getting to know her characters. So far I've never had a disappointment.
November 22, 2022
O’Farrell’s novel could easily have turned out as a mawkish romance, but is exquisite instead. This is ‘serious literary fiction,’ and won a Costa Best Novel award to prove it. The descriptive language is elegant and precise, with just the right number of words and images to create a mental picture of a lawn in Devon with laundry flapping on a line, or the cracked tiles of the entryway of a London row house. Most of the book is in the present tense, which lends it immediacy and reality. Moreover, the novel welcomes the reader in as a confidant and active participant by starting chapters with “Listen” or “Look” or “Here is Lexie”.
There are two intertwining stories; in the first half of the novel we have chapters alternating Lexie’s life in the 1950s and Elina’s in the present day. In the middle the two narratives meet with Ted’s visits to the café on the site of the old elsewhere office, and in the latter half we learn about how the stories are connected.
Lexie is a feisty university dropout in Devon, dreaming of a bigger life. By chance she meets Innes Kent, a dapper and intriguing Londoner who takes her back with him into his bohemian world of free love and modern art. Meanwhile, Elina and Ted are coping with the after-effects of a traumatic birth plus all the disorientation (verging on madness) and sleep deprivation that come with having a new baby. I predicted early on that we would learn , but hadn’t worked out exactly how, and I in no way saw the main tragedies coming , which is a mark of O’Farrell’s skill in plotting.
The two great themes of the book are art (Elina’s work, Ted’s filmmaking, Innes’s priceless collection, Lexie’s journalism) and motherhood . O’Farrell makes me feel I understand what it is to be a mother, all the joy and terror of it. And that is the highest compliment I can think to give her: she has made real for me an experience I may never have in life.
There are two intertwining stories; in the first half of the novel we have chapters alternating Lexie’s life in the 1950s and Elina’s in the present day. In the middle the two narratives meet with Ted’s visits to the café on the site of the old elsewhere office, and in the latter half we learn about how the stories are connected.
Lexie is a feisty university dropout in Devon, dreaming of a bigger life. By chance she meets Innes Kent, a dapper and intriguing Londoner who takes her back with him into his bohemian world of free love and modern art. Meanwhile, Elina and Ted are coping with the after-effects of a traumatic birth plus all the disorientation (verging on madness) and sleep deprivation that come with having a new baby. I predicted early on that we would learn , but hadn’t worked out exactly how, and I in no way saw the main tragedies coming , which is a mark of O’Farrell’s skill in plotting.
The two great themes of the book are art (Elina’s work, Ted’s filmmaking, Innes’s priceless collection, Lexie’s journalism) and motherhood . O’Farrell makes me feel I understand what it is to be a mother, all the joy and terror of it. And that is the highest compliment I can think to give her: she has made real for me an experience I may never have in life.
September 29, 2018
‘The Hand That First Held Mine’ (2010) is Maggie O’Farrell’s poetic, extremely moving and very human story of memory, motherhood and emotions.
O’Farrell tells us the stories of two couples – Lexie and Innes, in the 1950s and Ted and Elina in the present day – both with a London setting and both stories linked. ‘First Held Mine’ is a novel which is very up close and personal and unflinchingly so. It’s a story ostensibly about relationships; family and memory (distorted or otherwise) providing a heady mix of birth and death, love and hate, truth and lies.
O’Farrell has written a well-constructed novel, with well-drawn and believable characters, which is certainly engaging and very compelling. Whilst O’Farrell’s novels may not be considered ostensibly perhaps very ‘literary’ in some circles – ‘First Held Mine’ is a deceptively simply, yet poetically told story and is none the less satisfying for that.
Recommended.
O’Farrell tells us the stories of two couples – Lexie and Innes, in the 1950s and Ted and Elina in the present day – both with a London setting and both stories linked. ‘First Held Mine’ is a novel which is very up close and personal and unflinchingly so. It’s a story ostensibly about relationships; family and memory (distorted or otherwise) providing a heady mix of birth and death, love and hate, truth and lies.
O’Farrell has written a well-constructed novel, with well-drawn and believable characters, which is certainly engaging and very compelling. Whilst O’Farrell’s novels may not be considered ostensibly perhaps very ‘literary’ in some circles – ‘First Held Mine’ is a deceptively simply, yet poetically told story and is none the less satisfying for that.
Recommended.
September 25, 2023
If she thought back to the time just after her flight from the flat, she might claim she remembered nothing, that it was a long time before life and sentience re-emerged. But certain scenes would present themselves to her sometimes, like tableaux vivants.
*
She responds by putting her arms around his neck and giving him a hug of surprising intensity. He is so taken aback by this that he feels sudden tears rising in his throat. He has to hang on to the thin frame of his son’s girlfriend as they stand there in the early-autumn sun; he has to close his eyes to the glare.
He carries the impression of her touch at the back of his neck, around his shoulders, long after she has got into the car and after she has driven away around the corner. Felix stands on the pavement, staring at the spot at which her tail-lights disappeared, as if waiting for her to return, as if not wanting to break the spell./i>
*
She responds by putting her arms around his neck and giving him a hug of surprising intensity. He is so taken aback by this that he feels sudden tears rising in his throat. He has to hang on to the thin frame of his son’s girlfriend as they stand there in the early-autumn sun; he has to close his eyes to the glare.
He carries the impression of her touch at the back of his neck, around his shoulders, long after she has got into the car and after she has driven away around the corner. Felix stands on the pavement, staring at the spot at which her tail-lights disappeared, as if waiting for her to return, as if not wanting to break the spell./i>
August 20, 2010
The plot was interesting, but it moved too slowly for me. More than 100 pages in, and it was still not clear how the two different story lines were related.
The author also spends a lot of time on the descriptions of the characters' surroundings, which I found annoying. They were too long, often unnecessary, and they kept the story from progressing. (Do I really need to know every time the baby arches his back to look up at the ceiling? That there was pannini bread on the floor of the coffee shop?)
I like that O'Farrell created buildings and landmarks that were (unbeknownst to the characters) shared by the characters from the past and present.
Some of my friends will want to skip this one because of the sexual themes it contains.
The author also spends a lot of time on the descriptions of the characters' surroundings, which I found annoying. They were too long, often unnecessary, and they kept the story from progressing. (Do I really need to know every time the baby arches his back to look up at the ceiling? That there was pannini bread on the floor of the coffee shop?)
I like that O'Farrell created buildings and landmarks that were (unbeknownst to the characters) shared by the characters from the past and present.
Some of my friends will want to skip this one because of the sexual themes it contains.
August 30, 2020
Maggie O’Farrell is so good! Her characters are so well written and i was immediately drawn into their lives. This book has two timelines. The first starts in the 1950’s, a young woman moves to London and we follow her life and loves. The second is modern day, a couple with a newborn return home after a traumatic birth. It’s not clear initially how the stories will interconnect, and wanting to know made it hard to put this book down.
She writes about motherhood and parenting beautifully, especially that brain fog in the early days with a new baby.
A satisfying ending makes this a great read.
She writes about motherhood and parenting beautifully, especially that brain fog in the early days with a new baby.
A satisfying ending makes this a great read.
March 29, 2018
Mi primer acercamiento a Maggie O’Farrell no ha podido ser mejor, me ha encantado.
February 9, 2013
Having recently read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and loved it, I was eager to read another book by Maggie O'Farrell and the blurb of The hand that first held mine had me intrigued.
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. 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.
Maggie Farrell is a wonderful, descriptive writer, who really draws you into her stories with her beautiful imaginative writing.
This story has a very haunting quality that comes from O’Farrell’s writing. It gives the book the atmosphere of a mystery, even though that isn't necessarily the main focus of the plot. Her prose is beautiful and imaginative.
The novel is set in post-war 50/60s (not my favourite time to read about)London and also set in the present day. I did not find myself drawn into this time frame as I just could not get a sense of London in the 50s from the book although the descriptions are well written.
I found the first 100 pages were a struggle as very little seemed to happen and it was not until halfway through the book that I started to enjoy the novel.
although I had mixed feelings about this book I am a fan of Maggie O Farrell and look forward to reading more of her novels as I really think she has a unique style.
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. 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.
Maggie Farrell is a wonderful, descriptive writer, who really draws you into her stories with her beautiful imaginative writing.
This story has a very haunting quality that comes from O’Farrell’s writing. It gives the book the atmosphere of a mystery, even though that isn't necessarily the main focus of the plot. Her prose is beautiful and imaginative.
The novel is set in post-war 50/60s (not my favourite time to read about)London and also set in the present day. I did not find myself drawn into this time frame as I just could not get a sense of London in the 50s from the book although the descriptions are well written.
I found the first 100 pages were a struggle as very little seemed to happen and it was not until halfway through the book that I started to enjoy the novel.
although I had mixed feelings about this book I am a fan of Maggie O Farrell and look forward to reading more of her novels as I really think she has a unique style.
May 31, 2022
This must of come out before GR I was even a part of. I had never heard of Maggie O’Farrell, but picked this for the cover. This was such a touching book about mother and daughter. I think this is probably still my favorite book by her.
February 21, 2024
"Unuturuz çünkü buna mecburuz."
Maggie O'Farrell'ın Elimi İlk Tutan El kitabı, bu Matthew Arnold alıntısıyla başlıyor. Nasıl yalın, nasıl güçlü bir cümle. Çok sevdiğim bir başka cümleyi, "hafıza-i beşer nisyan ile maluldür"ü hatırlatıyor bana - daha kitaba başlayamadan duraksıyorum. Unutmak ile ilgili bir cümle, unutmakla ilgili bir başka cümleyi hatırlatıyor. Demek ki bazı şeyler de unutulmuyor.
Devam ediyorum okumaya, kitabın ilk cümleleri geliyor: "Dinle. Bu hikâyedeki ağaçlar yerinden oynuyor, sarsılıyor, kendilerine yeniden çekidüzen veriyorlar. Denizden kopup gelen bir esinti var, ağaçlar o huysuzlukları, kafalarını bir o yana bir bu yana savuran sabırsızlıkları içinde bir şeyler olacağını biliyorlar sanki."
Ne başlangıç. Bir şeyler de oluyor sahiden. Bir kadın, Lexie, bir adamla tanışıyor, Innes'le. Hayatları sonsuza dek değişecek çünkü birbirlerinde, aradıklarından haberleri bile olmayan bir şeyi bulacaklar. O'Farrell bir yandan onların 1960'larda geçen öyküsünü, bir yandan da günümüzde geçen bir başka öyküyü, Ted ile Elina'nın öyküsünü anlatıyor. Bir noktada bu iki hikayenin birleşeceğini anlıyor insan ama ne biçimde olacağını sonlara gelene dek kestiremiyorsunuz, yazar çok ustalıklı biçimde harmanlamış ve ayırmış hikayeleri.
Bir yandan bunu merak ederek okurken, bir yandan da iki öyküdeki ortak izlekleri keşfediyor insan. Aşk, yalnızlık, ölüm (Ben, Ben'i okuduktan sonra daha anlamlı geliyor O'Farrell'ın kitaplarındaki ölüm meselesi), yas, kadın olmak ve onun bir parçası olarak annelik. Her iki hikaye de insanı müthiş içine alıyor, özellikle anlattığı iki kadın, birbirini hiç tanımamış olan Lexie ve Elina muazzam çizilmiş karakterler. Kafa karışıklıkları, şefkatleri, kudretleri, arzuları... "O'Farrerll'ın kadınları diye bir kategori var artık zihnimde" diye yazmıştım en son, her okuduğum eseriyle iyice temelleniyor bu.
Çok severek okudum ancak dilinin ilerleyen dönem eserlerindeki kadar güçlü olmadığını ekleyeyim yine de. Gitgide daha incelikli, daha dokunaklı yazmaya başlamış kendisi. Burada da çok ışıltılı bölümler var, sonraki eserlerinde iyice oturacak olan üslubunun ilk emarelerini gördüm ki bununla karşılaşmak da başlı başına çok nefisti.
Maggie O'Farrell'ın Elimi İlk Tutan El kitabı, bu Matthew Arnold alıntısıyla başlıyor. Nasıl yalın, nasıl güçlü bir cümle. Çok sevdiğim bir başka cümleyi, "hafıza-i beşer nisyan ile maluldür"ü hatırlatıyor bana - daha kitaba başlayamadan duraksıyorum. Unutmak ile ilgili bir cümle, unutmakla ilgili bir başka cümleyi hatırlatıyor. Demek ki bazı şeyler de unutulmuyor.
Devam ediyorum okumaya, kitabın ilk cümleleri geliyor: "Dinle. Bu hikâyedeki ağaçlar yerinden oynuyor, sarsılıyor, kendilerine yeniden çekidüzen veriyorlar. Denizden kopup gelen bir esinti var, ağaçlar o huysuzlukları, kafalarını bir o yana bir bu yana savuran sabırsızlıkları içinde bir şeyler olacağını biliyorlar sanki."
Ne başlangıç. Bir şeyler de oluyor sahiden. Bir kadın, Lexie, bir adamla tanışıyor, Innes'le. Hayatları sonsuza dek değişecek çünkü birbirlerinde, aradıklarından haberleri bile olmayan bir şeyi bulacaklar. O'Farrell bir yandan onların 1960'larda geçen öyküsünü, bir yandan da günümüzde geçen bir başka öyküyü, Ted ile Elina'nın öyküsünü anlatıyor. Bir noktada bu iki hikayenin birleşeceğini anlıyor insan ama ne biçimde olacağını sonlara gelene dek kestiremiyorsunuz, yazar çok ustalıklı biçimde harmanlamış ve ayırmış hikayeleri.
Bir yandan bunu merak ederek okurken, bir yandan da iki öyküdeki ortak izlekleri keşfediyor insan. Aşk, yalnızlık, ölüm (Ben, Ben'i okuduktan sonra daha anlamlı geliyor O'Farrell'ın kitaplarındaki ölüm meselesi), yas, kadın olmak ve onun bir parçası olarak annelik. Her iki hikaye de insanı müthiş içine alıyor, özellikle anlattığı iki kadın, birbirini hiç tanımamış olan Lexie ve Elina muazzam çizilmiş karakterler. Kafa karışıklıkları, şefkatleri, kudretleri, arzuları... "O'Farrerll'ın kadınları diye bir kategori var artık zihnimde" diye yazmıştım en son, her okuduğum eseriyle iyice temelleniyor bu.
Çok severek okudum ancak dilinin ilerleyen dönem eserlerindeki kadar güçlü olmadığını ekleyeyim yine de. Gitgide daha incelikli, daha dokunaklı yazmaya başlamış kendisi. Burada da çok ışıltılı bölümler var, sonraki eserlerinde iyice oturacak olan üslubunun ilk emarelerini gördüm ki bununla karşılaşmak da başlı başına çok nefisti.
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