Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands
A Novel
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4.0 • 159 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A heartbreaking, wildly inventive, and moving novel narrated by a teenage runaway, from the author of The Flight Attendant.
Emily Shepard is on the run; the nuclear plant where her father worked has suffered a cataclysmic meltdown, and all fingers point to him. Now, orphaned, homeless, and certain that she’s a pariah, Emily’s taken to hiding out on the frigid streets of Burlington, Vermont, creating a new identity inspired by her favorite poet, Emily Dickinson.
Then she meets Cameron. Nine years old and with a string of foster families behind him, he sparks something in Emily, and she protects him with a fierceness she didn’t know she possessed. But when an emergency threatens the fledgling home she’s created, Emily realizes that she can’t hide forever.
Look for Chris Bohjalian's new novel, The Lioness!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bohjalian's (The Light in the Ruins) impressive 16th novel charts the life of a teenage girl undone after a nuclear disaster. Already troubled, rebellious Emily Shepard becomes orphaned and homeless after the meltdown of Reddington's nuclear power plant in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Wandering aimlessly, she finds refuge in a local shelter with Cameron, a nine-year-old boy she soon finds herself protecting. Emily is banished once she's pegged as the daughter of heavy-drinking parents both employed (and held responsible by surviving townsfolk) at the power plant where the meltdown occurred. Frequent flashbacks to her days at school and the youth shelter show her surrounded by influential miscreants, self-abusing "cutters," and drug takers like friends Andrea and Camille. Stealing and shoplifting through neighboring towns in order to survive the frigid New England winter becomes an often harrowing ordeal for Emily and Cameron as she attempts to figure out her next move. Through her first-person narration, readers become intimately familiar with Emily (and Cameron), as she grapples with the frustrating life of a misunderstood homeless youth on the run. Emily continually surprises herself with her newfound maternal instincts for Cameron and how difficult it is to survive life on the streets. Her admiration for kindred spirit Emily Dickinson serves to humanize her plight, as does an epiphany in the book's bittersweet conclusion.
Customer Reviews
Different
Honestly picked up this book expecting it to be heart warming. It wasn't, but that didn't make it disappointing. This author definitely has a unique style of writing. I loved every last word of this book. I could not put it down. It's a must read, but do not expect a happy ending.
Great book!
I read the ebook from my library, but it is such a good read, that it's worth paying for! I love the author's writing style. There's both humor & sadness & even though the it's told in the voice of a 17-year old, it's a great book for people of all ages! I highly recommend this book, & plan on trying more books by this author!
Love it!!
Awesome is the word that immediately came to mind when I finished Close Your Eyes Hold Hands. Chris Bohjalian's writing as he describes Emily's live after a nuclear reactor meltdown forces her to leave her home is remarkable. He captured her pain,isolation and despair perfectly. Emily is a remarkable character and above all a survivorThis is the 6th of Chris' books I've read and he never disappoints