Listen free for 30 days

  • The Hand That First Held Mine

  • By: Maggie O'Farrell
  • Narrated by: Karen Cass
  • Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (346 ratings)

Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
The Hand That First Held Mine cover art

The Hand That First Held Mine

By: Maggie O'Farrell
Narrated by: Karen Cass
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

An unforgettable novel of love and motherhood from best-selling author Maggie O'Farrell.

Winner of the 2010 Costa Novel Award and a Sunday Times best seller, The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell is a gorgeously written story of love and motherhood from the author of This Must Be the Place.

When the sophisticated Innes Kent turns up on her doorstep, Lexie Sinclair realises she cannot wait any longer for her life to begin and leaves for London. There, at the heart of the 1950s Soho art scene, she carves out a new life. In the present day, Elina and Ted are reeling from the difficult birth of their first child. Elina struggles to reconcile the demands of motherhood with her sense of herself as an artist and Ted is disturbed by memories of his own childhood that don't tally with his parents' version of events. As Ted begins to search for answers, an extraordinary portrait of two women is revealed, separated by 50 years, but connected in ways that neither could ever have expected.

©2010 Maggie O'Farrell (P)2012 Headline Digital

Critic reviews

"O'Farrell has a remarkable ability to convey the texture of human emotion with precision. In The Hand That First Held Mine, she also demonstrates a masterful gift for storytelling." ( Observer)
"Like Daphne du Maurier before her, Maggie O'Farrell writes books designed to stir up the female subconscious and bring our most primal fears to the surface... this book will leave your stomach in knots." ( Daily Mail)
"The journey this novel invites us on is wonderful, involving time travel, heartache, elation, confusion, freedom, nostalgia and art." ( Scotland on Sunday)

What listeners say about The Hand That First Held Mine

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    214
  • 4 Stars
    83
  • 3 Stars
    34
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    5
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    200
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    191
  • 4 Stars
    73
  • 3 Stars
    27
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    6

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

amazing

such a great story so well read. first Maggie o Farrell for me but wont be the last.
beautiful x

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best one yet

I'm really enjoying reading my way through the works of Maggie O'Farrell - and I'd say this was the best yet. Beautifully interwoven stories, fascinating, frustrating, likeable, annoying characters and the detective game of working out how they are connected. Her descriptions are delicate, rhythmic and evocative - of the time I was born and the time I live in today.
Hugo recommended.

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Separate stories take too long to come together

It took many hours of listening, to largely descriptive writing, to arouse my interest in the lives of two couples whose separate stories alternate and switch back and forth in time. Having to keep readjusting to which couple’s life was being described and at which time in their lives added to my lack of engagement. The narratives focus too long on the relationships within each couple unanchored by time and place. Many chapters went by before I realised that Lexie and Innis met in the 1950s and Ted and Elina in the present century. After hours of mundane listening things did pick up, but not until the last 30 minutes or so of the recording do the two quite separate stories come together. There are two moderately interesting books in this one novel but the sum is less than the parts. The writing is good, but the disjointed nature of the book is a distraction.

The reader is good and did inject life into the characters

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Solid without being exceptional

A perfectly fine novel but not one that grabbed me. one issue was that I was much more interested in one narrative than another (I liked the 2000s narrative to the 1960s/70s one). I found the older narrative much less gripping and the character less rounded.

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Too long.

The first two thirds of this book proved a very mundane listening experience. It wasn’t till the last chapters that everything came together and the characters actually sparked my interest. Up to that time, I found the writing and the story quite tedious. I was glad when I finished and wouldn’t recommend it.

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful!

Another excellent novel by Maggie O’Farrell. A gentle, captivating story, cleverly interweaving two stories spanning 1950s/60s Britain and the present day. Very well narrated - couldn’t stop listening!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A good read

I like this author, having read several of her books. Ending was possibly a little too predictable but over all a well crafted book. Concentrates upon relationships, feelings, art, gender roles, parental roles and responsibilities . Blends past and present. Bringing with it powerful, evocative images of 50s / 60s London with strong female characters. Can feel fragmented
initially but well worth persevering with.

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

You’ll be weeping by the end!

A slow burn to start with and the Ted/Elina parts were initially a bit confusing and long-winded, but all gentle scene-setting for an ultimately well-rounded and moving observation on a variety of traumas and their impact on our characters, leading to a moving and emotional finale.

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great audiobook

Intriguing story which unravels slowly keeping the listener mentally involved throughout. Well crafted as with all Maggie O’Farrell books

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Beautifully written, capturing the raw elements of motherhood

Although at times confusing I felt impelled to continue listening to the story to the end. The link between the two narratives becomes evident right at the end. I really enjoyed the description of the turmoil, passion and conflict that arises from becoming a mother. I love the descriptive style of the author and will definitely read more.