Synopses & Reviews
Evoking finely wrought characters reminiscent of those by Claire Messud or Elizabeth Strout, debut author Lynn Steger Strong traces the anatomy of a mistake and the weight of culpability. When Maya Taylor, an English professor with a tendency to hide in her books, sends her daughter to Florida to look after a friend's child, she does so with the best of intentions; it's a chance for Ellie, twenty and spiraling, to rebuild her life. But Ellie fears she'll only disappoint again, and in the sprawling hours of one humid afternoon, she makes a mistake that she can't take back. In two separate timelines--before and after the catastrophe--Maya and Ellie must try to repair their fractured relationship and find a way to transcend not only their differences but also their more troubling similarities. Heralding the arrival of a profoundly moving new talent, explores the depths and limits of a mother's love.
Review
"Lynn Steger Strong has a great eye for the visible world, a near perfect sensor for those of us living in it, and a deep compassion and curiosity for how we go astray and find ourselves again." Richard Ford
Synopsis
For fans of Celeste Ng's , a gripping and heartfelt family portrait from an achingly precise new voice.
Synopsis
Hold Still is an unblinking examination of family, the mother-child bond, and the storms it must withstand. Lynn Strong pulls no punches in considering not just how deep, but also how misguided a mother s love can be. Elisa Albert, author of After Birth
Synopsis
Maya Taylor, an intense, gifted English professor, has a tendency to retreat when she is needed most, escaping on long morning runs or finding comfort in the well-thumbed novels in her library. But when she sends her daughter Ellie to Florida to care for a friend's child, it's with the best of intentions. Twenty and spiraling, Ellie is lost in a fog of drugs and men--desperately in need of a fresh start. Her life with this attractive new family in Florida begins well, but Ellie is crippled by the fear that she'll only disappoint those around her . . . again. And in the sprawling hours of one humid afternoon, she finally makes a mistake she cannot take back.
The accident hangs over both mother and daughter as they try to repair their fractured relationship and find a way to transcend not only their differences but also their more startling similarities. In Maya's and Ellie's echoing narratives, Lynn Steger Strong creates a searing, unforgettable portrait of familial love and the tender heartache of motherhood--from the sweltering Florida heat to the bone-cold of New York in January. Churning toward one fateful day in two separate timelines, Hold Still is a story of before and after and the impossible distance in between.
Heralding the arrival of a profoundly moving new talent, this novel marks a taut and propulsive debut that "builds to a perfect crescendo, an ending that is both surprising and true" (Marcy Dermansky). Hold Still explores the weight of culpability and the depths and limits of a mother's love.
"Hold Still is an unblinking examination of family, the mother-child bond, and the storms it must withstand. Lynn Strong pulls no punches in considering not just how deep, but also how misguided a mother's love can be."--Elisa Albert, author of After BirthAbout the Author
Lynn Steger Strong holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University, where she taught freshman writing. She lives in south Florida with her husband and two young daughters.