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Exactly What You Mean
- Author
- Ben Hinshaw
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Publish Date
- 24 March 2022
- Run Time
- 5 hours 39 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
From an exciting new voice in literary fiction comes a brilliantly innovative, tender and unsettling novel exploring what it means to lose our innocence
Surrounded by the dramatic beauty of Guernsey, a teenager discovers a secret and finds his betrayal has the power to ruin adult lives. In London, a marriage shot through with infidelity leads to a quest for revenge, resulting in a series of simultaneously comical and catastrophic events. And in California, as wildfires threaten landscapes and lives, a young veteran struggles with the trauma of war, seeking solace at a local ranch.
In this extraordinary debut, a cast of characters grapple with unexpected betrayal, the loss of innocence and the lies we tell. With sharp insight, Ben Hinshaw illuminates the unnerving nature of what it means to grow up, to be a teenager playing at adulthood and an adult playing games.
© Ben Hinshaw 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022
Critics Review
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A surprising and enjoyable read . . . this novel without guardrails stands as a brave debut
The Times
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Virtuosity of technique accompanies keenness of insight and depth of characterisation . . . Hinshaw's impressively accomplished debut puts him in [Tim Winton and Jennifer Egan's] company
Sunday Times
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Ben Hinshaw offers wit, sensitivity and sharp observation . . . the intricate, braided storylines, sustained with energy and relish. It is entertaining, and something more - truly involving
Hilary Mantel, author of The Mirror and the Light
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A poignant demonstration of the way the past is still folded into the present
FT
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Ben Hinshaw renders ordinary human agonies with extraordinary precision and emotional insight . . . This book is a riveting and beautifully patterned map of the emotional archipelago of longing and learning, loving and leaving
Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers
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Such an incredibly clever idea this, a set of interlinked stories in which people who appear in one turn up in another . . there's a regretful, wistful atmosphere that's compelling.
Daily Mail
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A splendid debut. The stories are sharp, subtle, richly coloured and the world they deliver delightfully surprising. Read this book
Lynn Freed, author of The Romance of Elsewhere
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Full of precise moments of humanity. So finely observed, funny and touching
Alex Hyde, author of Violets
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Terrific. I really enjoyed it
Andy Miller, author of The Year of Reading Dangerously and co-host of Backlisted
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The calm, clear and intelligent prose belies the tortured emotional currents just below the surface. Sophisticated and ambitious
Samantha Dunn, author of Failing Paris
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Ben Hinshaw
- Narrator
- Bert Seymour, Lily Howkins, Deborah McBride
- Duration
- 5 hours 39 minutes
- Release Date
- 24 March 2022
- ISBN
- 9780241554869
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Penguin Books Ltd
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Narrative theme: love / relationships, Narrative theme: coming of age, Separation and divorce / Breaking up: advice, topics and issues
Synopsis
Brought to you by Penguin. From an exciting new voice in literary fiction comes a brilliantly innovative, tender and unsettling novel exploring what it means to lose our innocenceSurrounded by the dramatic beauty of Guernsey, a teenager discovers a secret and finds his betrayal has the power to ruin adult lives. In London, a marriage shot through with infidelity leads to a quest for revenge, resulting in a series of simultaneously comical and catastrophic events. And in California, as wildfires threaten landscapes and lives, a young veteran struggles with the trauma of war, seeking solace at a local ranch.In this extraordinary debut, a cast of characters grapple with unexpected betrayal, the loss of innocence and the lies we tell. With sharp insight, Ben Hinshaw illuminates the unnerving nature of what it means to grow up, to be a teenager playing at adulthood and an adult playing games.© Ben Hinshaw 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022
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