Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel • A Boston Globe Pick of the Week

“A compelling tale of loss, resilience, and transformation.” —The Boston Globe, “Pick of the Week”

“Suspenseful, provocative, often terrifying yet compassionate…. One of the most memorable teenage protagonists in recent fiction.” —The Washington Post

“Heartbreaking…. This is an adult novel … but readers of any age who love John Green’s novels might find [Emily]’s story, sobering as it is, an awesome one.” —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Stirring, sensitive…. One of the most authentic and distinctive voices since Emma Donoghue’s [Room].” —San Francisco Chronicle

“I have a new favorite Chris Bohjalian novel. Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is a book I wish I’d been smart enough to write:  a masterpiece of narrative voice.” —Jodi Picoult

“Chris Bohjalian is a master…. Emily Shepard is his greatest accomplishment.” —Los Angeles Times

“A chilling and heartbreaking suspense novel.” —USA Today
 
“Enthralling and indelible.” —People

“Intelligent, rich in detail, filled with full-blooded characters…. Bohjalian at his finest.” —The Seattle Times

“A ‘must read’ book.” —St. Louis Post Dispatch

“Haunting and resonant.” —The Miami Herald

“Emily’s character is written so well and her story so absorbing (this is very much a read-in-one-or-two-sittings type of book) that it is easy to forget you’re actually reading … Close Your  Eyes, Hold Hands reminds us of our innate need for connection.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“A masterful storyteller … Bohjalian hits every note. His characters have depth, his story sings.” —The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) 

“Bohjalian delivers a thoroughly engrossing and poignant coming-of-age story set against a nightmarish backdrop as real as yesterday’s headlines from Fukushima and Chernobyl. And in Emily he’s created a remarkable and complicated teenager … [with] a wry, honest voice as distinctive as Holden Caulfield’s.”  —Associated Press

“Dazzling…. A novel for the ages…. This is pure beauty in book form.” —The Free-Lance Star (Fredericksburg, VA)

“A potent story of loss, hope, and the overpowering yearning for home.”  —The Armenian Weekly

“Rings with poetry and truth.” —Library Journal

“A dystopian nightmare entwined with a wrenching personal crisis…. The notion of ‘just a life I left’ grows more intense for somebody like Emily Shepard who can’t return and is unsure about how to go forward.” —Burlington Free Press

“[A] brave saga.” —Booklist

“Impressive…. [Emily’s] admiration for kindred spirit Emily Dickinson serves to humanize her plight, as does an epiphany in the book’s bittersweet conclusion.” —Publishers Weekly

“Bohjalian once again reveals an uncanny talent for crafting a young female protagonist who is fatally flawed, but nevertheless immensely likable…. Resonates with a message of hope, truth and the fragility of life.” —BookPage

“Emily’s voice is a compelling one…. and hers is a journey readers will avidly follow.” —Kirkus Reviews

“I have a new favorite Chris Bohjalian novel. Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is a book I wish I’d been smart enough to write:  a masterpiece of narrative voice, of emotion, and of how—as Emily Dickinson might say—the sparest of words can hold a wealth of pain. If you need any proof that fiction can scare us, move us, and break our hearts simultaneously—look no further.” —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author