Held(novel)

Held

Author	Anne Michaels
Language	English
Publisher	Knopf
Publication date	2023
Publication place	Canada
Pages	240
ISBN	9780593536865

Heldis a 2023 novel by writer and poetAnne Michaels,published byKnopf,a subsidiary ofPenguin Random House.An epic novel, spanning from 1902 to 2025, the work tells the story of multiple members of a family spanning four generations. The locations or settings are varied and include a French battlefield duringWorld War I,1900sParis,mid-20th centurySuffolk,2025 inFinland,andLondon.Many of the settings take place in war zones. The narrative is told unconventionally as the plot shifts back and forth from the past to the present or future. The characters in each time period also have few connections to one another, but although the disparate stories have different relationships, characters and plots, several themes recur throughout the narratives. Themes explored by various characters include mortality and death, the philosophy of science, love, the soul, grief, and forms of image capture such as photography.

The novel was shortlisted for the2024 Booker Prize,and won the 2024Giller Prize.

Reception

Writing forThe Observer,novelistAlice Jollystated that Michaels explored many human themes such as history, love, loss and trauma using beautifully constructed prose, similarly to her earlier novelFugitive Pieces.Writing forThe Guardian,writer and historianLucy Hughes-Hallettstates the non-chronological manner in which the narrative is told, moving back and forth between different eras, with interspersed memories, dream sequences and meditations of different characters make the work more profound.Reviewing the work for theTimes Literary Supplement,Andrew Motionin a negative review, stated that the novel has less "imaginative energy" than her previous novelsFugitive PiecesandThe Winter Vaultand that the elliptical plot and lack character development with lack of establishing the settings, essentially makes the characters "ciphers for the author's obsessions."