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The 10 Most Popular Books on Book Riot in September 2024

cover of Held by Anne Michaels

Held by Anne Michaels

Speaking of book awards, this is on the 2024 Book Prize shortlist, which we announced in a news post and discussed twice in our book news newsletter Today in Books. Here’s how Erica recommends it: “The latest by poet and novelist Michaels is both spectral and ethereal. It opens in 1917 as John, a British soldier, lies barely holding onto life on a battlefield in France. As he lies there, memories play on a loop — his coastal childhood, chance pub encounters, and time spent in hot baths with lovers. When he returns home, he’s reunited with his artist wife, Helena, and reopens a photography business. But the past keeps resurfacing, in his own trauma, but in another way as well — he can see faint images of the loved ones of photography subjects. As the narrative continues on — including both fictional and historical figures like the Curies — the thin space between life and death is explored through John and generations of his descendants.”


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