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The Stars Are Not Yet Bells

On sale

10th November 2022

Price: £9.99

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Selected: Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781529370645

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‘An unusual, intense, experimental novel’ Daily Mail

In the aftermath of the Great Depression, Elle Ranier marries Simon to escape a life of destitution. She leaves New York City for Lyra, a remote, wooded island off the south-eastern coast of America. There, amid rumours of strange jewels hidden beneath the water, Elle harbours a secret: her guest, Gabriel, is not a cousin but her lover.

Their time together is brief, but throughout her long marriage to Simon, Elle never forgets Gabriel. Half a century later, as the mists of dementia creep in, she is still haunted by his fate. Poignant and poetic, The Stars Are Not Yet Bells is a mesmerising exploration of the limits of memory, and the people we can never forget.

‘Poignant . . . a testament to love and loss’ Washington Post

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Reviews

Emily Fridlund, author of <i>History of Wolves</i>
A heartbreaking and profoundly visionary book. Hannah Assadi movingly renders the kaleidoscopic nature of memory-revealing not only one woman's disordered heart and mind, but the way our consciousness recombines shards of memory to create a glittering, prismatic view of a life. I wanted to stay in Assadi's shimmering sentences for as long as I could.
Claire Vaye Watkins, author of I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
A prophetic fever dream sprung from a singular imagination. Hannah Lillith Assadi is an incomparable stylist and a fearless storyteller. This novel is a lush, addicting, daring wonder
JoAnne Tompkins, author of What Comes After
A luminous and deeply moving portrait of the end of life and the persistence of desire. While Hannah Lillith Assadi's characters are forced to deny the truth of themselves and who they love, in her assured hands the extraordinary beauty of life and love and the natural world is never lost
Simon Van Booy, author of The Illusion of Separateness
A rich, mesmerizing novel, in which waves of overlapping memory erode the landscape of a woman's life until only feeling remains-both in the story and in the reader
Booklist
Assadi captivates the senses, compelling readers to pause and reflect as they progress through the story. Highly recommended for those who enjoy lyrical fiction that explores women's inner lives.
The Millions
Enchanted and haunting narration
Harper's Bazaar (US)
A story of love and loss
Choice Magazine
A darkly romantic story
Daily Mail
The poetic beauty of the writing and a certain swirling Gothic passion and drama bowl the reader along... An unusual, intense, experimental novel
NPR
Sharp and impressionistic sentences . . . an exhilarating reading experience
Sydney Morning Herald
Elegiac with slightly gothic undertones
Washington Post
Poignant . . . a testament to love and loss