Because I Have Loved and Hidden It at Cormorant Books

Because I Have Loved and Hidden It

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Synopsis

Julia is in limbo. Her mother has just died and her married lover, Nicholas, has gone missing in Morocco. Thirsting for love, for sex, for connection, she grasps at the trailing threads of those who have left her behind: a birth certificate, issued two years before she was born and kept secret from her; and memories of Nicholas, his touch, his scent, his every action consuming her waking moments and filling her lonely nights.

Her need to fill the void is so great that when Deepa, Nicholas's wife, walks through her door, they begin a passionate affair, carried along by desire and desperation. This — along with the mysterious birth certificate — leads Julia to question where she fits in other peoples’ lives, and where she has fallen through the cracks.

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Reviews

"The heart is a strange fruit ... Elise Moser is an expert at peeling back its thick rind of sorrow, fear, and guilt to expose the love concealed beneath. Because I Have Loved and Hidden It is a sophisticated and graceful debut."
- Neil Smith, author of Bang Crunch

"This is one seductive book. Elise Moser’s lush prose made me slow down against my impulse to hurry and find out where the story would go next. An intertwining meditation on deceptions that we create and then come to see as inevitable."
— Padma Viswanathan, author of The Toss of a Lemon

"The richness of this novel is in the quiet sensuality that saturates every page. Moser’s meditation on love and loss is at once sharp and tender, subtle and intense. This is a mature, confident debut!"
— Ameen Merchant, author of Silent Raga

"Moser's Montreal is unusually well-realized, with geographic references that go beyond mere signifiers and instead vividly reflect the city for those of us who don't know it well."
— Quill & Quire

"[An] ambitious and artfully woven debut novel."
— The National Post

"This novel charting the geography of love doesn't dwell on definitions; it embraces the possibility of unfettered passion."
— Book Marks

"With her debut novel, Moser intricately stacks images and metaphors."
— Broken Pencil