![Keiran Goddard - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_a_keiran_goddard.jpg)
Hourglass
A FEBRUARY 2023 INDIE NEXT PICK
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE
A short, lyrical debut novel about love, loss, work, time, and the unquenchable desire for connection with others-for fans of Jenny Offill, Mieko Kawakami, David Szalay and Sheila Heti
The second time you came, we went from bar to bar to bar. It made the city feel smaller. Like a map we were folding to the size of a stamp. We were good at that. We could have fit an entire universe inside a matchbox.
Exquisitely crafted, richly imagined, and as funny as it is moving, Hourglass is an unusual and uniquely told love story. Turning time upside down, it combs the wreckage of personal heartbreak for something universal and asks what it means to lose what you love.
"This book is such a sneaky head f*ck-an epic poem in an ancient style about the brutalities of modern love, a masculine interrogation of feminine heartbreak, a really beautiful way to spend an evening"-Lena Dunham
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE
A short, lyrical debut novel about love, loss, work, time, and the unquenchable desire for connection with others-for fans of Jenny Offill, Mieko Kawakami, David Szalay and Sheila Heti
The second time you came, we went from bar to bar to bar. It made the city feel smaller. Like a map we were folding to the size of a stamp. We were good at that. We could have fit an entire universe inside a matchbox.
Exquisitely crafted, richly imagined, and as funny as it is moving, Hourglass is an unusual and uniquely told love story. Turning time upside down, it combs the wreckage of personal heartbreak for something universal and asks what it means to lose what you love.
"This book is such a sneaky head f*ck-an epic poem in an ancient style about the brutalities of modern love, a masculine interrogation of feminine heartbreak, a really beautiful way to spend an evening"-Lena Dunham
Editorial Reviews
"Hourglass glows in the heart of the reader."-Max Porter
"Evocative, ecstatic and saturated with off-kilter wit."-Alexandra Kleeman
"Hourglass will stay with me for a long time. Hypnotic."-Lemn Sissay
"If ever a book could be read as a pilgrimage to discover what the heart finds sacred, this is it."―Irish Times
"A book for anyone who ever has been or ever will be heartbroken."-Hollie McNish
"A stunning reimagining of the love story...every word shines new and true."-Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure
"Evocative, ecstatic and saturated with off-kilter wit."-Alexandra Kleeman
"Hourglass will stay with me for a long time. Hypnotic."-Lemn Sissay
"If ever a book could be read as a pilgrimage to discover what the heart finds sacred, this is it."―Irish Times
"A book for anyone who ever has been or ever will be heartbroken."-Hollie McNish
"A stunning reimagining of the love story...every word shines new and true."-Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure
Readers Top Reviews
CG
Amazing read. Funny and heart breaking all at the same time. Definitely recommend if someone is looking to get lost for a little while!
Mongrel
A love story with a most unexpected narrator and a delicate, crystalline poetry of moments stitched together to make an unexpectedly resonant narrative
stephen lewis
The 'Hourglass' s' grabs you from page one and does not let go. It is a book best read in one long read without the distraction of people, music, or the noise of the world. The author pulls the reader into the mind of a fallible young man who stumbles headlong into an all consuming love affair impossible for him to maintain. The two sentence paragraph structure of this work blends dry self effacing wit, introspection and tragedy into what at at times feels to be a prose poem both cutting edge and ancient. This is a book to treasure and on completion kept prominent on the bookshelf. A thing of beauty worth dipping into from time to time to both laugh and weep at the world and the heroic absurdity of our ways.
