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Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands: A Novel Audiobook
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Publisher Description
A heartbreaking, wildly inventive, and moving novel narrated by a teenage runaway, from the bestselling author of Midwives and The Sandcastle Girls.
Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is the story of Emily Shepard, a homeless teen living in an igloo made of ice and trash bags filled with frozen leaves. Half a year earlier, a nuclear plant in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom had experienced a cataclysmic meltdown, and both of Emily's parents were killed. Devastatingly, her father was in charge of the plant, and the meltdown may have been his fault. Was he drunk when it happened? Thousands of people are forced to flee their homes in the Kingdom; rivers and forests are destroyed; and Emily feels certain that as the daughter of the most hated man in America, she is in danger. So instead of following the social workers and her classmates after the meltdown, Emily takes off on her own for Burlington, where she survives by stealing, sleeping on the floor of a drug dealer's apartment, and inventing a new identity for herself -- an identity inspired by her favorite poet, Emily Dickinson. When Emily befriends a young homeless boy named Cameron, she protects him with a ferocity she didn't know she had. But she still can't outrun her past, can't escape her grief, can't hide forever—and so she comes up with the only plan that she can.
A story of loss, adventure, and the search for friendship in the wake of catastrophe, Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is one of Chris Bohjalian’s finest novels to date—breathtaking, wise, and utterly transporting.
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“Grace Blewer, the author’sdaughter, gives a heartfelt portrayal of Vermont teenager Emily Shepard…Blewercaptures all of Emily’s complexity—her emotional troubles, her ferociousdetermination to protect a homeless boy she stumbles across, and her longingfor her beloved dog. While on the run, Emily creates a new identity--inspiredby her favorite poet, Emily Dickinson. There’s no doubt that listeners willknow this book shines in the audio format when they hear Blewer singing a Dickinsonpoem to a popular tune.”
— AudioFile
Quotes
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“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, New York Times bestselling author of The Storyteller -
“With his new novel, Chris Bohjalian has created an intense, gripping story of a young girl coming of age under extreme conditions.”
— Barnes&Noble.com, editorial review -
“Impressive…Already troubled, rebellious Emily Shepard becomes orphaned and homeless after the meltdown of Reddington’s nuclear power plant in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom…Her admiration for kindred spirit Emily Dickinson serves to humanize her plight, as does an epiphany in the book’s bittersweet conclusion.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Wrenching…Emily’s voice is a compelling one…and hers is a journey readers will avidly follow.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“Emily’s story is both heartbreaking and frightening…The book rings with poetry and truth.”
— Library Journal -
“In his sixteenth novel, the versatile Bohjalian has Emily tell her harrowing, tragic story retrospectively…[A] brave saga.”
— Booklist -
“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
Awards
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One of Barnes & Noble's Biggest Books for July 2014
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A 2014 Library Journal Editor’s Pick
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A July 2014 LibraryReads Pick
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A BookPage Top Pick, July 2014
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A New York Times bestseller
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About Chris Bohjalian
Chris Bohjalian is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-four books, including The Flight Attendant, which has been made into an HBO Max limited series. His novels Secrets of Eden, Midwives, and Past the Bleachers were made into movies. His work has been translated into more than thirty- five languages. He is also a playwright He can be found at chrisbohjalian.com or on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Litsy, and Goodreads.
About the Narrators
Grace Experience is an actor and audiobook narrator. She studied acting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and has performed onstage in New York and New England.
Grace Blewer is a voice actor who is known for her narration of Isla and the Happily Ever After and Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands.