July book club - Holding by Graham Norton

Well I did post but didn't ask a question so here goes,
Graham, are you proposing to write more fiction and if so will it be set in Ireland again? You certainly know about village life. Were you brought up in that environment?
I would like to read a comedy by you, I think you would be very good in that genre.

I've really enjoyed reading this book. It has been an easy read - a book that can be put down but then picked up again without having to do a quick recap. The characters are believable and well portrayed.
Thank you GN for sending me another good read.
I hope that this is going to be the first of many fiction books that Graham writes - well done, Graham for writing such an engaging novel.

I liked this book. It was easy to read with a gentle flow to the story line, yet it had enough suspense to keep you reading a little more to see what happened next.

It was set in Ireland and had some excellent descriptive passages giving a picture of the rural setting of the story. Eg “the air was thick with a wet mist and the horizon was lost in the various shades of grey that blurred the sky and sea into a single mottled canvas. The small red car parked on the cliff looked like a wound in the vast bleakness”. Powerful, as well as descriptive!

The characters are all well portrayed, I could imagine them - the portly police man, the solid farmer’s wife, the rather eccentric, isolated sisters. There was a range of problem behaviour – excessive drink and compulsive eating, both triggered by poor self-esteem. Jealousy, anger, resentment simmering below the surface, over a man who two women love. The man disappears, has he run away? Then we have the discovery of two bodies, and the unearthing of long hidden secrets.

A question for Graham - any more books in the pipe line?

I could not get into this book at first but by Part 2 I was hooked.I enjoyed all the characters but especially the contrast between Evelyn and Brid(is it pronounced Brid or Bride?)One had such a sad life while the latter seemed much more able to cope and was a much stronger character.I would like to ask Graham if any of the characters are based on people he knows and if he enjoyed writing stories as a child.

This is a book to enjoy on many levels. It is an easy read, good for a holiday or those times we want something to read fairly quickly. It is also a book to trigger thought about the characters and their lives, to consider what isn't quite spelled out. It is very descriptive, I could 'feel' the village. It does seem one that could easily turn into a series, I'm not sure about television and would be interested to know if Graham has considered either option. Thank you GN for the opportunity to enjoy this book.

I really liked the book, which was a good holiday read with some well-drawn characters and interesting twists (though I did manage to guess them for once, so they can't have been too unexpected!). It reminded me a bit of the Fannie Flagg books. You say that Graham's very busy right now, so I'd like to know what he's up to (nosy old biddy alert!). What's so important that he has to leave his loyal Radio 2 fans to the tender mercies of Allan and Mel and their manic giggling for ten whole Saturdays? Is it another book? If so, I'll forgive him and look forward to reading it.

I really enjoyed Holding. Every character had their own story but PJ Collins was the larger than life character who brought it all together.
The story of Mrs Meany was particularly sad as she never was a Mrs and lived all her life without being able to acknowledge her son.
I would like to think PJ found love and settled down when he went to work in Cork, was the ending of the book a little hint perhaps ?

I really enjoyed this book by Graham Norton. His characters are well written and there was enough in the book to me me turning the pages. Good twist at the end a great offering for a first fiction book. I'd like to ask Graham when did he start writing fiction? Have you always written it for yourself and a,ways had ideas in your head or did the popularity of your autobiographies spur you on to writing more as I suspect there's only so much you can write about your own life.

I have just finished this book and enjoyed it, particularly the way the characters were drawn with such understanding of human weaknesses and frailties. We once had a lovely holiday in a little village not too far from Cork, which was very like Graham describes his fictional Duneen so it felt very real to me.

I would love to read more about PJ - the Sergeant and wonder if he is going to feature in another book?

Thank you, Gransnet, I enjoyed reading the book.
Holding turned out to be unexpectedly gentle - gently told, in a gentle, almost fragile setting.
The small village life described beautifully, the characters believable. In the telling of the tale, one had a sense of slight tongue in cheek humour, but at the same time one felt for some of the chatacters with a life not quite lived - I.e. the tragic characters - Lizzie Meanie and the Ross sisters.
Although gentle, the tale is well paced and keeps one well engaged throughout.
PJ is likeable and makes one feel sympathetic towards him.
The book could easily be a start of many more tales of the village. I can almost visualise a tv series in that setting, with more characters developed.
Mr Norton, are there plans for more Duneen tales?
Or, having told the tale, have you now moved on to other projects?
If so what? I'd be interested in reading more from Mr Norton.
Thank you.

As I said earlier I could really see this as a TV series. Grahams descriptions of the characters made them really easy to imagine. I almost fell in love with PJ myself.

I could imagine the village and the characters inhabiting it as they are so well described throughout. The plot had enough twists to keep me intrigued, even though at times it was a bit far fetched.
I would recommend this as a holiday read and would love to hear about what happened to PJ afterwards.
Thank you Graham for showing us another talent.

I read this on holiday and it was perfect - easy to read and enough of a mystety to keep me interestef. Like others i found PJ a sympathetic character and hope to hear more of him.

I hoped I would enjoy this book and I did. At first the depth to which the characters was examined was a bit annoying but gradually I began to love the well-observed insight into each character. You realise that the face a person shows to the world is but one facet of a person's life.

We all have our secrets, big or small, but this gentle, charming, little page-turner shows that secrets can have catastrophic consequences when they come out.

The only criticism I have is that the book that I received was of poor quality. Every page I read curled making it hard to hold with one hand.

Question for Graham: When I was introduced to Mrs Meany, I thought her name was a nickname, giving us an insight into her character (i.e. Mr Happy, Little Miss Naughty) but it turned out to be her actual name. Why did he choose this name?

I really enjoyed this book and found it a page turner. For a first novel it was very skilfully written, what a versatile man Graham Norton is!
I did find there were some little niggles when I finished the book, possibly because I read it so quickly and so will be rereading it soon.
I can see this book as a film. Does Graham think it might happen?
I would also ask Graham which he prefers, acting, singing or writing very entertaining novels?

I really enjoyed the style of writing and loved the descriptions of Ireland and the village. The plot was involved enough to keep me interested but not too confusing.

I have just finished reading this book. If I had posted after the first few chapters I would have said it was the best book choice GN had sent me, but, although I enjoyed it, I felt that it lost some of it's charm after PJ's encounter with Bridie. Graham Norton did capture the atmosphere of the village well, making it feel almost claustrophobic. Although I had guessed the culprit early on, I had not anticipated the other twists. I wonder if any of the characters are based on people Graham has met?

I have found Holding a easy book to read when reading I could visualise this village and the characters in my minds eye .

Question to Graham
Do you keep to set hours when writing or do you have a more relaxed approach.

Another super choice for us GN readers. I really enjoyed the picture of village life that Graham painted so vividly. A well written tale that developed interesting characters and documented their interaction. Graham really knows the secret heart of the village, the gossip, the recluse, the nosy neighbour are all depicted.
Into all this is interwoven a murder mystery which made me want to read more.
I have a question for GN. How do you choose the books? Is it on recommendation from the publisher and do you read each one yourselves?

Like Emptynester, I’m a fan of Graham Norton and enjoyed this book. You can almost hear him narrating the story. Nice gentle storytelling, with a few twists and turns. The plot moved at an even pace, keeping you interested with the interwoven lives of the characters. The book was written in such a way that you felt for the main characters - PJ, Evelyn, Brid and Mrs Meany – and some insightful and sensitive observations were made about all of them. I loved the Epilogue...but won’t say more in case I spoil it for those yet to read that far! I hope there are more novels on their way.

A few questions for Graham:
Are you pleased with how your first novel has been received?
I think this would make a really good TV drama. Any plans?
Any more novels in the pipeline?

I have read it all now and found it easy reading but !ike another poster, by the end had lost interest in the characters and apart from PJ their fate didn't grab me. I did like the style of Graham Norton's writing though.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Just finished it and was not disappointed at all. I was surprised that he could write so well....perceptive, funny and held my attention all the way through.

Although the book is quite well written I found it difficult to like any of the characters or really care what happened to them,