Description: Living in an igloo of ice and trash bags half a year after a cataclysmic nuclear disaster, Emily, convinced that she will be hated as the daughter of the drunken father who caused the meltdown, assumes a fictional identity while protecting a homeless boy.
Review Quotes: 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