Open, Heaven
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Publishing:2nd Apr '26
£9.99
This title is due to be published on 2nd April, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£16.99(9781787335196)
Two boys meet, everything changes: a thrillingly beautiful and transporting story of first love in the English countryside. The instant Irish Times bestseller.
‘An exquisite tale of first love’ Sarah Perry, author of THE ESSEX SERPENT
On the cusp of adulthood, James dreams of another life far away from his small village. As he contends with the expectations of his family, his burgeoning desire – an ache for autonomy, tenderness and sex – threatens to unravel his shy exterior.
Then he meets Luke. Unkempt and handsome, charismatic and impulsive, he has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle on a nearby farm. Luke comes with a reputation for danger, but underneath his bravado lie anxieties and hopes of his own.
With the passing seasons, the two teenagers grow closer and the bond that emerges between them transforms their lives. James falls deeply for Luke, yet he 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?
‘It made my heart hurt in the best ways’ Helen Macdonald, author of H IS FOR HAWK
‘Heart-rending…sensuous and decadent’ Financial Times
‘Beautifully written, deeply felt’ Michael Magee, author of CLOSE TO HOME
Open, Heaven was an Irish top ten bestseller w/c 28 April 2025
An achingly beautiful story of first love in the English countryside . . . Lyrical, atmospheric and transporting * Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2025* *
An exquisite tale of first love . . . Hewitt is superb in his loving and acute descriptions of the natural world -- SARAH PERRY * Guardian *
Heart-rending . . . sensuous and decadent * Financial Times *
A beautiful novel about how a first love can shape a whole life -- HELEN MACDONALD, author of H is for Hawk
A mature and complete debut novel . . . The central relationship occurs by light, sensitive touch, and reaches arresting emotional depths * New Statesman *
Blisses with the bright verdure of youth . . . It’s a novel about us -- KAVEH AKBAR, author of Martyr!
A gorgeous debut . . . a novel that thrums with hidden love and concealed truths -- ANDREW McMILLAN, author of Pity and Physical
A luminous portrayal of two teenagers bonding with each other over one heady, transformative year * Waterstones *
A striking debut novel . . . as bittersweet and elegiac as birdsong -- PATRICK GALE, author of Notes from an Exhibition
Accomplished . . . Feelings of love, desire, yearning, fear are mirrored and heightened by an intensely vivid natural world * Irish Times *
ISBN: 9781529935240
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 15mm
Weight: 200g
240 pages