LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Suffused in the rawness of grief and desperate devotion, Hannah Bent’s When Things Are Alive They Hum is a devastatingly moving debut. Filled with grace, it recounts the pain and moral dilemma of a young woman who refuses to accept the brutal reality that her beloved sister is dying.
Twenty-year-old Harper was born with a congenital heart disorder and has Downs syndrome, which she prefers to call Up syndrome. A force of joy who’s adored by her family and boyfriend, Harper is an inspirational young woman who knows truths of the heart, as seen in the entries she writes in her “autobiography storybook”, and through her deep understanding of people.
Feeling assured her little sister has found joy, Marlowe has moved to London to study rare butterflies. Then, as her academic star rises, she learns Harper is seriously ill and rushes home to Hong Kong to be at her side. When a succession of doctors say Harper is unsuitable for a heart transplant - her only remaining option - Marlowe takes drastic steps, because “Harper deserved to have a heart as much as anyone.” At the same time, Marlowe is still grappling with the pain of losing their mother at a tender age.
With fluttering grace, Bent explores profound questions around medical ethics, and how far a person might go for love. It’s a beautiful book of desperate love, perfectly told through Harper and Marlowe’s dual narratives.
Joanne Owen
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When Things are Alive They Hum Synopsis
When Things Are Alive They Hum poses profound questions about the nature of love and existence, the ways grief changes us, and how we confront the hand fate has dealt us.
Marlowe and Harper share a bond deeper than most sisters, shaped by the loss of their mother in childhood. For Harper, living with what she calls the Up syndrome and gifted with an endless capacity for wonder, Marlowe and she are connected by an invisible thread, like the hum that connects all things. For Marlowe, they are bound by her fierce determination to keep Harper, born with a congenital heart disorder, alive.
Now 25, Marlowe is finally living her own life abroad, pursuing her studies of a rare species of butterfly secure in the knowledge Harper’s happiness is complete, having found love with boyfriend, Louis. But then she receives the devastating call that Harper’s heart is failing. She needs a heart transplant but is denied one by the medical establishment because she is living with a disability. Marlowe rushes to her childhood home in Hong Kong to be by Harper’s side and soon has to answer the question – what lengths would you go to save your sister?
Intensely moving, exquisitely written and literally humming with wonder, it is a novel that celebrates life in all its guises, and what comes after.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781761150463 |
| Publication date: |
11th May 2023 |
| Author: |
Hannah Bent |
| Publisher: |
Ultimo Press |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
384 pages |
| Primary Genre |
General Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Press Reviews
Hannah Bent Press Reviews
'One of the most captivating and memorable books I've read in a long time. Brave, tender and heartfelt, I foresee cheese platters stripped down to the last cracker as bookclubs reflect on this beautiful and thought-provoking novel.' - Joanna Nell, author of The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village
'Hannah Bent has created a literary heroine of such pure beauty she takes your breath away.' - Australian Women's Weekly
'Hannah Bent's novel is compelling and tender, powerfully placing the reader in the heart and the mind of two sisters with contrasting expectations of life, and the imperatives of love. At times this pulls them in dangerously different directions but ultimately their ability to honour the essence of each other reminds us that in doing so, life-giving expansion is possible even when life itself may be diminishing.' - Suzanne Daniel, author of Allegra in Three Parts
'My heart feels larger for reading Hannah Bent's beautiful debut. This is a novel which hums with love, truth and tenderness. I defy readers not to fall in love with Marlowe and Harper.' - Kathryn Heyman, author of Fury
'a tender portrayal of sisterly love and impossible choices that will break your heart.' - Sydney Morning Herald
'Posing profound questions about grief, love and fate, Bent's debut celebrates life and sisterhood in an awe-inspiring way.' - Harper's Bazaar
'At once uplifting and heartbreaking, this is a story about the special bond between two sisters.' - Sunday Life
