Open, Heaven is a striking debut novel from a richly gifted poet and memoirist: an intensely conjured portrayal of the hopeless, all-consuming love of one lonely teenager for another and how it marks him for life . As in Hewitt''s poetry, the beauties of nature erupt throughout, seeming to express the things the two boys cannot voice and the cumulative effect is as bittersweet and elegiac as birdsong>

Autorentext

Seán Hewitt was born in 1990. He is the author of two poetry collections, Tongues of Fire and Rapture's Road, and a memoir, All Down Darkness Wide. He collaborated with the artist Luke Edward Hall on 300,000 Kisses: Tales of Queer Love from the Ancient World. Hewitt has received the Laurel Prize and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and been shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. He lectures at Trinity College Dublin and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Klappentext

When James meets Luke, everything changes - an exhilarating tale of hidden desire and sudden freedom in the wild countryside.

THE INSTANT TOP 10 IRISH BESTSELLER
DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE LONGLIST 2026

'An achingly beautiful story of first love' GUARDIAN
**'Superb... Transcendent'** SARAH PERRY
**'Beautifully written, deeply felt'** MICHAEL MAGEE
**'Heart-rending... Propulsive'** FINANCIAL TIMES

James dreams of another life far away from his small village. Almost an adult, his newfound desires threaten to unravel his shy exterior. Then he meets Luke. Unkempt and handsome, charismatic and impulsive, he has been sent to stay with his aunt and uncle on a nearby farm.

With the passing seasons, a bond emerges between them that transforms their lives. Yet James is never sure of Luke's true feelings and as the end of summer nears, he has a choice to make: will he risk everything for the possibility of love?

A Book of the Year for the Guardian, Observer, Irish Times and BBC

READERS LOVE OPEN, HEAVEN
**'My favourite book of the year'
'Gorgeous. I was completely transported'
'The intoxicating rush of first love. Five stars!'
'Breathtakingly beautiful. A story that stays with you'
'Heart-breaking but also triumphant. A must-read'
'The most truthful novel about love
that I have read in a long time'**

'It made my heart hurt in the best ways' HELEN MACDONALD

'Hewitt writes with such tenderness and grace' ANNE ENRIGHT

'Desire, yearning, fear... Intensely vivid' IRISH TIMES

'Gorgeous... Piercing, intimate and euphoric' COLIN WALSH

'Seán Hewitt is the real deal' BENJAMIN MYERS

Open, Heaven was an Irish top ten bestseller w/c 28 April 2025