The Hour I First Believed

The Hour I First Believed

Fiction, Fiction & Poetry, General Fiction
Paperback Published on: 02/04/2009
£18.99
6 reviews
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Synopsis

From the author of the international number one bestseller I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE comes a magnificent novel of a life turned upside-down by tragedy – and the search for a way to carry on in the aftermath.

Caelum Quirk is a middle-aged schoolteacher. Students at Columbine High School generally respect him and turn to his wife Maureen, the school nurse, when in trouble. When he has to return to his home town for the funeral of his beloved aunt, Maureen promises to join him the next day – but she goes to work that morning, and that’s when the shootings happen. She hides in a cupboard, unable to see what’s happening, but listening to the students being taunted, then killed.

Life can never be the same again. In the face of Maureen’s trauma, Caelum searches for meaning, delving into his own family history and discovering that nothing was as he’s always been told. As the couple inch towards recovery and suffer setbacks, the stories of Caelum’s redoubtable ancestors illuminate how he came to be the man he is, and how he and Maureen might live in the future with freedom and dignity. With no easy answers, Caelum gradually comes to an understanding of who he really is and what he can believe in.

  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • ISBN: 9780007290802
  • Number of pages: 640
  • Weight: 450g
  • Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 34 mm

Customer Reviews

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The Hour I First Believed
The Hour I First Believed
As the novel opens Caelum Quirk is trying to save his third marriage, but events are about to spin out of his control. His wife is caught up in the Columbi... READ MORE
Helen Nash
The Hour I First Believed
The Hour I First Believed
I did read the whole of this book, honestly!! I must admit to feeling some trepidation when I first gazed at the lengthy tome, but when I finished, I felt ... READ MORE
Anne Watkinson
The Hour I First Believed
The Hour I First Believed
'The hour I first believed' depicts the ills of contemporary America from Columbine to the Iraq War. Non-fiction events are interwoven with a fascinating f... READ MORE
Helen Cleaves
The Hour I First Believed
The Hour I First Believed
If you are looking for a real tome of a book - one you really want to get lost in and to linger over - then I'd definitely recommend this one. Wally Lamb'... READ MORE
Stella Anderson
The Hour I First Believed
The Hour I First Believed
I was at first a little put off by the size and subject matter of this book. However, from the first page, the narrator, Caelum Quirk, engages the reader ... READ MORE
Lucy Oakes
The Hour I First Believed
The Hour I First Believed
Okay so it's a huge book but then it took Wally Lamb nine years(!) to write it so I guess that has something to do with it. The basis of the story is the ... READ MORE
Georgina Bickerstaffe