Holding: The dark and masterful debut novel from the bestselling author

· Hachette UK
4.4
112 reviews
Ebook
320
Pages
Eligible
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About this ebook

**Graham Norton's new novel Frankie is out now**

'A gentle comic crime story'
GUARDIAN

'Poised and perceptive'
SUNDAY TIMES

'A beautiful piece of writing'

KATHY BURKE

The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama; and yet its inhabitants are troubled. Sergeant PJ Collins hasn't always been this overweight; mother of two Brid Riordan hasn't always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasn't always felt that her life was a total waste. So when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke - a former love of both Brid and Evelyn - the village's dark past begins to unravel.

As the frustrated PJ struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community's worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret.

Darkly comic, touching and at times profoundly sad. Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of lovable characters, and explore - with searing honesty - the complexities and contradictions that make us human.

Ratings and reviews

4.4
112 reviews
Midge Odonnell
March 17, 2019
Duneen is a small, sleepy town where nothing ever happens. But it does and it did and the past is going to come back and haunt them. Set in a modern Ireland it still manages to feel like we are back in the 1950s, with a slower, less connected way of life. The Church has less of a stranglehold on the residents of the town but it's power is still felt, especially by the older generation. People are people though so judgment is passed via the eternal medium of gossip and when a body is discovered the old tales of Brid Riordan and Evelyn Ross fighting over Tommy Burke in the village square are resurrected. PJ, the local Garda, is tasked to find out what happened but this is way beyond his experience so "the boys from Cork" are called in. Who is the body in the old farmstead? Are there more? Who put it there? All questions that need (and indeed are) answered but the investigation is really a secondary thread in this book which deals mainly with the foibles of human nature. It took me almost 60% of the way through the book before I really started to enjoy it. I couldn't really connect with any of the characters and just as I was starting to get a handle on someone's character we would jump to another person's tale and I would lose the thread again. It does all start to pull together very neatly but it does all rely on poor old PJ to hold everything together - never have I seen a sadder character in a book that I felt genuine empathy for; usually they just make me want to slap them. His relationship with the detective from Cork is wonderful and the slow burn of the two men getting to know and like each other (professionally and personally) is wonderfully drawn. It deals with a lot of divergent themes as well. From the rather odd Ross sisters, all spinsters and living together in the old family home - even the village thinks there is something just a bit askew with them. Through weight issues caused by comfort eating, alcoholism, the trauma of assault on a young woman, the black stain of being pregnant out of wedlock and just the difficulties of living. Each issue is dealt with sympathetically and there is no judgment by the author of any character and why they are where they are in life; indeed many of them are given hope for a brighter future. There are moments of wonderful insight in to how people tick in the book, unfortunately it is all encased in the back half of the book and I found it a bit of trial getting to the "good bits". You can actually see Mr Norton's writing style evolve on the page and I can't help but wonder if one additional re-write/edit to tighten up the first half wouldn't have made this a much, much better book.
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Richard Firn
November 30, 2018
A good read. Took a while to get into as lot's of characters are introduced at once but after you learn who to follow it gets better.
1 person found this review helpful
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Lisa Moran
June 30, 2021
Absolutely loved this from start to finish! It cld have been written in any decade, so very typically Irish. I didn't know whether to batter or hug PJ most of the time. A good story all rounded up nicely.
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About the author

Graham Norton has written four other novels, all Sunday Times bestsellers, in the UK and Ireland. His fiction writing has won him critical acclaim from across all media and the literary community. Holding won the An Post Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction. A Keeper was shortlisted for both the Specsavers Popular Fiction Award and the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction. Home Stretch won the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction and has been optioned for a major TV series. Holding was made into a high-profile ITV drama, directed by Kathy Burke, and Forever Home was shortlisted at the 2022 Irish Book Awards.

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