‘We’re going to be fine.’
He looks around, but there’s nothing out here: nothing but the bottomless black universe on their left, the Earth suspended in glorious technicolour to their right.
Carys and Max have ninety minutes of air left.
None of this was supposed to happen.
But, perhaps this doesn’t need to be the end…
Adrift in space with nothing to hold on to but each other, Carys and Max can’t help but look back at the well-ordered world they have left behind – at the rules they couldn’t reconcile themselves to, and a life to which they might now never return.
For in a world where love is banned, what happens when you find it?
Hold Back the Stars is a love story like no other.
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90 minutes. All the oxygen remaining in their tanks. The only time left together in the far reaches of space. They should have had a lifetime, not mere minutes left to live and to love. Bravely, Max spoke up for their relationship and on behalf of his generation. He challenged the strict 'Couples Rule'. Their new society preaches the right of the individual to live 'in their own right' where decisions are made 'in their own name'. Max and Carys dared to question this contradictory rule and imposed notion of when a couple can be united. The result is a devastating space mission with catastrophic results. I found Hold Back the Stars to be a beautiful and tragic microcosm of a relationship that explores grief, love and what it means to really live a life on your own terms, even if the cost is life itself. A refreshing conclusion offers readers their own choices which is a genuine and fitting tribute to both the themes and the characters in the novel. - Nola (QBD)
Guest, 10/06/2017
