The Stars Are Not Yet Bells (Paperback) - Hannah Lillith Assadi

A bittersweet, dreamlike love story, written in gorgeous prose, that explores the effects of dementia from award-winning writer Hannah Lillith Assadi.

'An unusual, intense, experimental novel' Daily Mail

In the aftermath of the Great Depression, Elle Ranier marries Simon to escape a life of destitution. She leaves New York City for Lyra, a remote, wooded island off the south-eastern coast of America. There, amid rumours of strange jewels hidden beneath the water, Elle harbours a secret: her guest, Gabriel, is not a cousin but her lover.

Their time together is brief, but throughout her long marriage to Simon, Elle never forgets Gabriel. Half a century later, as the mists of dementia creep in, she is still haunted by his fate. Poignant and poetic, The Stars Are Not Yet Bells is a mesmerising exploration of the limits of memory, and the people we can never forget.

'Poignant . . . a testament to love and loss' Washington Post

About the Author

Hannah Lillith Assadi received her MFA in fiction from the Columbia University School of the Arts. She was raised in Arizona by her Jewish mother and Palestinian father. She lives in Brooklyn. A 5 Under 35 National Book Award Honoree, her first novel, Sonora (Soho 2017) received the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a finalist for the PEN/ Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction.