Hourglass

Beautiful, funny, profound … Read it in one glowing session * New Statesman *The charms of Hourglass, like those of the narrator himself, are insidious. This is a sad book that is somehow wickedly fun to read * LA Times *An arresting, exquisitely told love story … if ever a book could be read as a pilgrimage to discover what the heart finds sacred, this is it. * Irish Times *Hourglass burnishes its ideas of love and agony with an almost mystical attention to feeling. This book truly glows in the heart of the reader – Max PorterEvocative, ecstatic, and saturated with off-kilter wit, Hourglass renders heartbreak as both vividly, luminously particular, and intensely, intimately familiar. There are lines from this remarkable book etched all over my memory, indelible – Alexandra KleemanThis book is such a sneaky head f*ck - an epic poem in an ancient style about the brutalities of modern love, a masculine interrogation of feminine heartbreak, a really beautiful way to spend an evening – Lena DunhamHourglass will stay with me for a long time. Hypnotic. – Lemn SissayA book for anyone who ever has been or ever will be heartbroken. So that’s everyone. – Hollie McNishA stunning reimagining of the love story … every word shines new and true – Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water CureShockingly intimate and devastatingly funny, bleak and true – Luke Kennard, author of The Answer to EverythingThis book is a world. A broken dance floor of glass and gold, so rare and precious you barely believe it is real, but haunts you all day like a song. Vivid and brilliant. – Greta BellamacinaThis is high-wire writing: a novel where every sentence counts. They add up to something profoundly honest and truly magical – Matt ThorneThis is a beautiful book: by turns tough and tender, acerbically funny and deeply humane. Keiran Goddard’s mind is a marvel. We are lucky to have him. – Tabitha LasleyA story of doomed romance as touching as it is abstract * Financial Times *A universal love story * Guardian *Beautiful and very funny – Brett Anderson

Keiran Goddard grew up in Shard End, Birmingham in a working-class family. He is the author of one poetry pamphlet, two poetry collections and the novel Hourglass. His debut collection was shortlisted for the Melita Hume Prize, he was the runner up in the William Blake Prize and Hourglass was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott prize. He speaks internationally on issues related to social change and currently develops research on workers’ rights, the future of work, automation and trade unionism.