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Holding by Graham Norton
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Holding (edition 2017)

by Graham Norton (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
5423944,212 (3.59)14
"From Graham Norton, the BAFTA-award-winning Irish television host and author of the "sparkling and impish" (Daily Mail) memoirs The Life and Loves of a He Devil and So Me, comes a charming debut novel set in an idyllic Irish village where a bumbling investigator has to sort through decades of gossip and secrets to solve a mysterious crime. The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama but when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke--a former lover of two different inhabitants--the village's dark past begins to unravel. As the frustrated sergeant PJ Collins struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community's worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret. In this darkly comic, touching, and at times heartbreaking novel, perfect for fans of J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy, Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of loveable characters, and explore--with searing honesty--the complexities and contradictions that make us human"--… (more)
Member:Stacyleanne12
Title:Holding
Authors:Graham Norton (Author)
Info:Hodder Paperbacks (2017), Edition: 01, 320 pages
Collections:Your library
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Holding by Graham Norton

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» See also 14 mentions

English (38)  Dutch (1)  All languages (39)
Showing 1-5 of 38 (next | show all)
Yikes. What could have been a solid little mystery was buried under unnecessary fluff. A small Irish town full of dull, terrible, sexually repressed people is jostled by the discovery of some human remains. I could’ve lived my whole life and not had Graham Norton read… things to me. I’ll never be the same. ( )
  ilkjen | Feb 20, 2024 |
You will note that this is the second time I have read this novel. My earlier review is here ( I first read it about 3 years ago)

This time I am reading it for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction group. This is the first book we are reading this year, and I think they will enjoy it.

We will be basing some of our discussion on some questions listed at The Reading Agency (listed on Amazon)

Duneen is a quiet place, far enough from the big towns to have kept its own rhythms. Its residents include cast down policeman PJ who lives a lonely, uneventful life punctuated only by the next meal – until now; the beautiful and mysterious family of three spinster sisters each with their own secrets and
sorrows; and of course, the town's gossip who think she knows the answers. When a grim discovery is made on a building site up by the old school, it becomes the catalyst for half lived secrets and seething rivalries to come to light and this silent, once innocent and repressed-seeming town is revealed to have
a much darker, hungrier undertow

The other resources that I've found which we may use in our discussion are some short You Tube videos:

Graham Norton reading an extract
Character introduction : Evelyn Ross

Both of these videos comment on the significance of the novel's title.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.6, HOME STRETCH ( )
  smik | Feb 10, 2024 |
Right from the start I was hooked on this book and read it quite quickly despite the busyness of the season. Characters, setting, and of course the unfolding of their lives and their secrets was all very enjoyable. A good first novel. ( )
  thesmellofbooks | Dec 27, 2023 |
A strong little sleepy village mystery novel. ( )
  therebelprince | Oct 24, 2023 |
Not what I would have imagined (good or bad) based on enjoying Norton's show. A funny, insightful story in a charming voice. ( )
  Kiramke | Jun 27, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 38 (next | show all)
With a real affection for its flawed characters and their back stories, Holding is at times heartbreaking, at others snortingly funny.
added by Sylak | editStylist [Issue 338], Amy Adams (Oct 12, 2016)
 
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Für Rhoda - endlich eins, das du lesen kannst!
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Es war in der Einwohnerschaft von Duneen weitgehend akzeptiert, dass, sollte ein Verbrechen geschehen und es  Sergeant Collins gelingen, denTäter festzunehmen, dieser Verhaftung wohl kaum eine Verfolgung zu Fuß vorausginge.
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"From Graham Norton, the BAFTA-award-winning Irish television host and author of the "sparkling and impish" (Daily Mail) memoirs The Life and Loves of a He Devil and So Me, comes a charming debut novel set in an idyllic Irish village where a bumbling investigator has to sort through decades of gossip and secrets to solve a mysterious crime. The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama but when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke--a former lover of two different inhabitants--the village's dark past begins to unravel. As the frustrated sergeant PJ Collins struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community's worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret. In this darkly comic, touching, and at times heartbreaking novel, perfect for fans of J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy, Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of loveable characters, and explore--with searing honesty--the complexities and contradictions that make us human"--

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