Held

The novel opens in 1917, with John lying injured in the snow on a French battlefield, his legs numb, his mind slipping back to a meeting in a pub and nights with the woman he loves. Three years later he is home in North Yorkshire, physically changed, sharing his life with Helena, a painter, and taking pictures for a living once more. Yet the dead will not stay away: strange presences appear on his photographic plates, carrying messages he cannot read. From this point the book jumps between moments across over a hundred years and between England, France and finally Finland in 2025, following four generations of the family that grows from John and Helena. Marie Curie and Ernest Rutherford make an appearance, and the story keeps weighing science against the unseen.

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About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Historical, Family, War (assigned by AI)

Set in

United Kingdom, France, 1908–2025

First published

2023

Author's age

65 when first published

ISBN

9781526659118 (Bloomsbury, United Kingdom)

9781526659125 (Bloomsbury, United Kingdom)

9780593536865 (Alfred A. Knopf, United States)

9780593470848 (Vintage, United States)

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Wikidata