The Hand That First Held Mine (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
Quite simply this novel is about motherhood, the ups and downs, the anxieties, but always the devotion. However, there is nothing simple about Maggie O’Ferrell’s writing. She writes in technicolor, creating scenes in my mind that I’ll never forget. She’s vastly descriptive with every scene, emotion and the elaborate details of the smallest objects. I couldn’t help but feel a part of the story of Lexie and Innes and fifty years later Elina and Ted. I will admit her writing style threw me for a loop in the beginning but as I got used to the flow it carried me along with the complex plot and wonderful characters. I liked the story while I was reading it but when I finished and as I thought back to the brilliance of the telling, I realized I loved it because the ending was a complete shock.The plot is too intricate to try to explain so I will leave it at this. If you start this novel and have doubts about staying with it, as I did, I suggest you read on because the more you read the more you will want to read, I promise. The thing about O'Farrell's novels is that they are so absorbing that I fall into a kind of trance until I finish them. I don't know how she makes her stories so completely unputdownable. Lexie Sinclair has to be one of my favorite characters in a novel, ever. If I have one criticism of this novel, it's that I think the characters of Margot and Gloria were a bit underdeveloped and therefore cartoonishly villainous. But Lexie, Elina, Ted, Innes, and even Robert and Felix are now people I feel I know, and I will miss their company.
What do You think about The Hand That First Held Mine (2009)?
I think what spoiled this book for me was that it too so darn long to get to the point.
—ghact
meh, just o.k. I was hoping that there would be more to it.
—cbrd
Loved it! I think I have found my new favorite author!
—konlaw
