
Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Grace Blewer
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By:
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Chris Bohjalian
About this listen
A heartbreaking, wildly inventive, and moving novel narrated by a teenage runaway, from the best-selling 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.
©2014 Chris Bohjalian (P)2014 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
It is 1943: Tucked away in the idyllic hills south of Florence, the Rosatis, an Italian family of noble lineage, believe that the walls of their ancient villa will keep them safe from the war raging across Europe. Eighteen-year-old Cristina spends her days swimming in the pool, playing with her young niece and nephew, and wandering aimlessly amid the estate's gardens and olive groves. But when two soldiers, a German and an Italian, arrive at the villa asking to see an ancient Etruscan burial site, the Rosatis' bucolic tranquility is shattered.
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Breathes new life
- By B. Siemens on 08-16-13
By: Chris Bohjalian
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Secrets of Eden
- A Novel
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, Susan Denaker, Rebecca Lowman, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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"There", says Alice Hayward to Reverend Stephen Drew, just after her baptism, and just before going home to the husband who will kill her that evening and then shoot himself. Drew, tortured by the cryptic finality of that short utterance, feels his faith in God slipping away and is saved from despair only by a meeting with Heather Laurent, the author of wildly successful, inspirational books about...angels. Heather survived a childhood that culminated in her own parents' murder-suicide, so she identifies deeply with Alice’s daughter, Katie.
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Good beginning Good end. Stupid Middle..
- By Kristi Warriner on 04-06-10
By: Chris Bohjalian
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Skeletons at the Feast
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In January 1945, in the waning months of World War II, a small group of people begin the longest journey of their lives: An attempt to cross the remnants of the Third Reich, from Warsaw to the Rhine if necessary, to reach the British and American lines. As they work their way west, they encounter a countryside ravaged by war. Their flight will test both Anna’s and Callum’s love, as well as their friendship with Manfred - assuming any of them even survive.
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Disappointed.
- By Alan on 12-05-13
By: Chris Bohjalian
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Water Witches
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith, Kim Mai Guest
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Patience Avery is a dowser—a "water witch". Her natural gifts enable her to locate lost items, missing people, and aquifers deep within the earth. This last skill is more in demand than ever, as her home state of Vermont is in the grip of the worst drought in years. Patience knows better than most that this crisis is only the start: a sign of worse things to come.
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decent listen
- By Taintedrose76 on 01-18-23
By: Chris Bohjalian
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Midwives
- A Novel
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Kate Burton
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Abridged
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The time is 1981, and Sibyl Danforth has been a dedicated midwife in the rural community of Reddington, Vermont, for 15 years. But one treacherous winter night, in a house isolated by icy roads and failed telephone lines, Sibyl takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an emergency Caesarean section on its mother, who appears to have died in labor.
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Why Abridged
- By Patricia B Tripoli on 11-06-13
By: Chris Bohjalian
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The Sandcastle Girls
- A Novel
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Alison Fraser
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Syria, she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke College, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. The First World War is spreading across Europe, and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian genocide. There, Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. When Armen leaves Aleppo to join the British Army in Egypt, he begins to write Elizabeth letters....
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Bohjalian is Better Than This...
- By Pamela Harvey on 08-12-12
By: Chris Bohjalian
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The Princess of Las Vegas
- A Novel
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Grace Experience
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Crissy Dowling has created a world that suits her perfectly. She passes her days by the pool in a private cabana, she splurges on ice cream but never gains an ounce, and each evening she transforms into a Princess, performing her musical cabaret inspired by the life of the late Diana Spencer. Some might find her strange or even delusional, an American speaking with a British accent, hair feathered into a style thirty years old, living and working in a casino that has become a dated trash heap.
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Cheap movie ticket
- By april on 03-25-24
By: Chris Bohjalian
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The Buffalo Soldier
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Alison Fraser
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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From the best selling and critically acclaimed author of Trans-Sister Radio comes a hauntingly beautiful story of the ties that bind families - and the strains that pull them apart. "Bohjalian writes honestly and often movingly," says Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal calls it "tender...[written] with poetic skill."
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Touching, and Sincere
- By A.W. Nadine on 05-27-03
By: Chris Bohjalian
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Before You Know Kindness
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 17 hrs
- Unabridged
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For 10 summers, the Seton family - all three generations - met at their country home in New England to spend a week together playing tennis, badminton, and golf, and savoring gin and tonics on the wraparound porch to celebrate the end of the season. In the 11th summer, everything changed. A hunting rifle with a single cartridge left in the chamber wound up in exactly the wrong hands at exactly the wrong time, and led to a nightmarish accident that put to the test the values that unite the family - and the convictions that just may pull it apart.
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Awesome Read
- By Pamela Harvey on 10-30-04
By: Chris Bohjalian
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The Double Bind
- A Novel
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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When college sophomore Laurel Estabrook is attacked while riding her bicycle, her life is changed forever. She withdraws into her photography hobby and begins to work at a homeless shelter. There she meets Bobbie Crocker, a man with a box of photographs he won't let anyone see. When Bobbie dies suddenly, Laurel discovers that he was once a successful photographer. As her fascination begins to merge into obsession, she becomes convinced that some of his photographs reveal a dark family secret.
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Excellent Psychological Thriller
- By Billie Lee on 02-19-07
By: Chris Bohjalian
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The Jackal's Mistress
- A Novel
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Marni Penning, Chris Bohjalian
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Virginia, 1864—Libby Steadman’s husband has been away for so long that she can barely conjure his voice in her dreams. While she longs for him in the night, fearing him dead in a Union prison camp, her days are spent running a gristmill with her teenage niece, a hired hand, and his wife, all the grain they can produce requisitioned by the Confederate Army. It’s an uneasy life in the Shenandoah Valley, the territory frequently changing hands, control swinging back and forth like a pendulum between North and South, and Libby awakens every morning expecting to see her land a battlefield.
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Just ok
- By Gwen on 03-20-25
By: Chris Bohjalian
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Slot Machine Fever Dreams
- Obsession Collection
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Grace Experience
- Length: 1 hr and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Dove, a recovering alcoholic covered in Emily Dickinson tattoos, serves up drinks and small talk at a casino in Vegas. Russell is a man on a roll. He claims to be a chain-restaurant manager, yet his tells point to different skills. The two leave together at the end of the night, but when all pretense is stripped away, they find themselves in a fight for their lives.
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A few twists packed into a short story
- By froggyk on 10-02-23
By: Chris Bohjalian
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The Law of Similars: A Novel
- A Novel
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: David Birney
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Abridged
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When one of homeopath Carissa Lake's patients falls into an allergy-induced coma, possibly due to her prescribed remedy, Leland Fowler's office starts investigating the case.
By: Chris Bohjalian
What listeners say about Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands
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- Ray Stewart
- 08-27-14
Man writes as teenage girl.
How can an "older" man write like a teenage girl? Chris Bohjalian did a fantastic job of doing just that. I picked out this book because I have read many other books by Chris Bohjalian and have liked every one of them. This one was quite different from his other books and I wasn't sure I would like it in the beginning when it was in the voice of a teenage girl, with teen language. The character development was superb and heart-wrenching. Interesting that Bohjalian's daughter is the narrator for this audio-book.
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- Benjamin Button
- 08-06-18
Captivating and beautiful
Chris Bohjahlian never disappoints with his novels and this one is no different. This one has left me with a book hangover worrying about the main character ever since it ended.
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- Nancy D
- 11-07-23
Loved It So Much, Read It Twice
I loved everything about this book. The writing is wonderful, and the narrator is perfect for this story. The story was horrifying in so many ways, but it was full of love and hope and humor. The narrator can sing, too! I laughed out loud when she sang an Emily Dickinson poem to the Gilligan's Island theme tune. Chris and Grace, you must be very proud of each other!
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- Nikki
- 10-07-15
Great narration and curious plot.
This audiobook is well written and an intriguing story but super sad. No happy endings. Barely a ray of sunshine poking through anywhere. Bring your box of Kleenex.
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- Mary C. Mouwdy
- 06-15-24
Heartbreakingly Real
I could never (really) even begin to imagine what surviving on the streets would be like for a runaway or homeless teen, but Chris Bohjalian has done it, and has opened my eyes and broken my heart in the telling. But the story is about so much more than that: about families and adolescent/teen rebellion, about the difficulties of being a child who refuses to fit into other's ideas of what she should be, about losing friends and making new ones, and about the need to be needed, which is part of each of us. This novel will stay with me and haunt me for a long time, and I suspect I will be revisiting it more than once.
I was also impressed by the skill with which it was read, not just the expression of Emily's thoughts and feelings, but with the diction, as well! I am a little hard of hearing, and it is such a pleasure to hear such clear and measured enunciation! I wasn't fond of hearing all the profanity and rough language, but it made the story seem even more gritty and real, so I believe it was necessary.
Thank you for a most absorbing read!
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- Vinny Black
- 08-10-14
An page turner in the first degree!
What did you love best about Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands?
The character who narrates the novel, Emily, is funny and ironic and quirky. I wish more young people were this unique and insightful.
What did you like best about this story?
Emily Shepard and her take on her favorite poet Emily Dickenson. .And I love disaster scenarios.
Which character – as performed by Grace Blewer – was your favorite?
Emily Shepard!
Who was the most memorable character of Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands and why?
Emily will stay with me a long, long time.
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- Leah
- 06-21-16
Is best book to date
About 20 years ago, I took two of Chris's classes at Trinity College. Over the years, I have followed his writing. I have enjoyed his previous novels, but this one will stick with me for the rest of my life. The depiction of Emily Shepard was stunning, emotionally raw, and, in many ways, uplifting. Despite the trauma she indoors, her resiliency is breathtaking. On a sidenote, I remember Chris talking about his very small child named Gracie when I had him as a professor. So, I loved hearing her as the near raider of this book. Thank you Chris for all you do. Keep up the wonderful work! And Grace, keep narrating. You are a pro!
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- C Enyart-Elfers
- 12-14-14
great choice for YA & adult book clubs...
Where does Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Captivating! I listened over a period of time as I was recuperating from a surgery.
What did you like best about this story?
Living near a nuclear plant, many of the emotions & concerns about an explosion have crossed my mind. It made me wonder if a similar storyline would follow in our area.
What about Grace Blewer’s performance did you like?
So convincing that she moves through the emotions of loss & trying to rationalize how she feels people must see her... as the daughter of the operator who contributed to the plant malfunction!
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
When she returned to her home after the plant explosion... and begin to plan her new life.
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- Kindle Customer
- 12-26-17
Wow
Great book - listened to it with my teenage daughter. Some very difficult moments but good talking points.
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- Cecilia
- 09-02-14
Overall a good book, but poorly narrated
I was very caught up by the story of this young girl. However, his daughter, Grace's, narration was flat and uninflected, clearly showed a lack of ability to read with character. A professional narrator or actor would have made the story even more riveting.
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5 people found this helpful