Held 🤍

By Anne Michaels

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

“We don’t scorn the feeling of falling in love—why do we question other instincts, just as powerful, intangible, unprovable? Premonitions, a sensed presence, intuitions.”

Held begins in 1917 with John lying on a battlefield in northern France, dazed and broken, his thoughts wandering between memories of love, home, and his childhood.

By 1920, he has returned to North Yorkshire, alive but not whole, and reopens his photography business while trying to piece his life back together with his wife Helena. From here the book expands across four generations, weaving together fragments of lives, history, and moments of desire and memory.

This is unlike anything I have read before. At times it feels more like a collection of snapshots than a straightforward story, moving through time with a poetic voice.

The writing is beautiful and evocative, and some passages really stayed with me However, I did find it challenging.

The narrative is deliberately fragmented, which made it difficult to keep track of characters and connections, especially towards the latter part of the book.

I loved the first half once I settled into the rhythm, but by the final chapters I found myself confused and less engaged. For me, this unevenness is why I’ve settled on 3.5 stars.

A strange but memorable book, filled with stunning imagery and thought-provoking ideas. I think every reader’s experience will be different with this one.

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