The Hand that First Held Mine unfolds via a dual timeline. In the 1950s the main character is Lexie Sinclair, a slightly rebellious and unconventional young woman who flees her small town for London and a relationship with the enigmatic and much older Innes Kent, whom she'd only briefly met once. She goes on to forge a career for herself at the intersection of art and journalism before tragically drowning. The more contemporary timeline features Elina and Ted, who are having difficulty adjusting to new parenthood. She endured a very difficult delivery and is struggling to balance her role as a mother with her career as an artist. Ted meanwhile becomes increasingly troubled by flashbacks to his childhood, memories that conflict with what he's been told and what he thought he knew about his early years. Lexie was a fabulous character. I always love a woman who lives her life on her terms and refuses to be limited by the men in her life. I liked the way O'Farrell shone a light on the challenges women can face in the post-partum period and the emotional and psychological toll of not knowing the truth about one's origins and identities. l liked the parallels O'Farrell developed between Lexie and Elina - art, fashion, difficulties balancing career and motherhood - and I enjoyed the voice of the omniscient narrator, especially when it came to foreshadowing. I did find the historical storyline more compelling than the contemporary one, and had some issues with the backstory of Innes Kent perhaps being used to excuse some of his behaviour, but overall this was a book that I enjoyed. 

This was such a strange read for me. My first book of the author's was 'I am, I am, I am' which is semi-biographical. I was absolutely entranced by the writing and story-telling, rated it 5-stars and was thrilled to see novels from the same author. However, I think I picked a dud here. I feel as though the author was trying something new here, and it didn't quite work out. There were some brilliant bits of writing, and the story had promise. However, there was so much descriptive filler that did not add to the story at all. I'm talking 3 or more pages describing 5 minutes of a character's working day that is in no way relevant to the plot. In my opinion, for this storyline to work, the character development needed to be the main focus of the book, and a far greater portion of the word count would have been better used on this. Overall, this was a very promising story that was severely let down by excessive, unnecessary description. Resulting in a painfully slow-paced book that I very nearly did not finish. However, I will try one of Maggie O'Farrell's earlier novels as the reviews on these are typically excellent and the good bits of writing really are very good.

A beautifully written story, with interesting and well-rounded characters. It was entertaining, but I'm wonderinng what the takeaway is. It carries an air of a life lesson, yet I'm not sure what that's supposed to be, let alone if I agree. There's nothing revolutionary about the characters – it doesn't show an unseen side of parenthood or womanhood. It's simply a well-crafted story about interesting people entwined in interesting ways. Not spectacular, but a lovely little read.