Industry Reviews
Tender, restrained, Hide is the freshly imagined story of a gay male couple who decide to give up the world -friends, family, career - in order to live out their forbidden love in the decades before gay liberation. This is a great love story * Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story *
Graceful and understated * New York Times Book Review *
Past and present intercut in this tender, exquisitely observed love story that demonstrates the sacrifices made in the name of commitment * Fanny Blake, Daily Mail *
One of the best debut novels we've had the pleasure to read this year ... A profoundly compassionate book about how we administer to those we love, the tender acrimony of intimacy and facing loss in a world dominated by threat. The story is understated, poignant, beautifully observed and lingers with you long after you've reluctantly read the final page * Attitude *
An extraordinary, subtle, unsettling book. It's a daring, searching, powerful piece of work. He never puts a foot wrong. Those two men, their histories, their difference and the passion that held them loom off the page ... I admired the relentless power of this writing ... Ferocious, unsentimental and masterful * Patricia Duncker, author of Hallucinating Foucault *
A tough, thoughtful story beautifully told * Eithne Farry, Sunday Express *
A masterful novel. Every page aches with life * Gail Godwin, author of The Good Husband *
Reading Matthew Griffin's Hide, I kept saying to myself 'at last!': a novel that follows the trajectory of a marriage (in fact if not in name) between two men over the course of decades, and does so with grit, humour and compassion! Hide is a welcome and important work * David Leavitt, author of The Two Hotel Francforts *
Tough but compassionate and beautifully observed, Matthew Griffin's debut novel is an unflinching look at the cost of isolation in an intolerant society and a moving story about the persistence of love * Maggie Shipstead, author of Seating Arrangements *
A profound and complex achievement ... Hide renews one's faith in the future of gay fiction * Gregory Woods, author of Homintern *
Deeply touching and thought provoking * Scotsman *
A fascinating and raw journey * Herald *
A remarkable novel * Western Mail *
An intimate examination of the consequences of love lived in secrecy ... An important story to tell, as the voices of elderly lesbian and gay characters are so rarely heard * Big Issue *
This is the rare thing: an important, funny, beautifully observed novel about love. A great debut * Stuart Nadler, author of Wise Men *
Some love, pressurized by time, and isolation, and prejudice, turns hard, gem-like, buried in protective rock. In Hide, Matthew Griffin has used his considerable talents to cut into and polish the gemstone, allowing us a glimpse at a remarkable love, a costly love, meanly sparkling, and precious * Justin Torres, author of We the Animals *
Hide is the best debut I've read in years. Not only is it beautifully written, full of humor and heart, but it's that rare literary beast: a serious novel that's a joy to read. Matthew Griffin is an important and welcome new voice of his generation * John McNally, author of After the Workshop *
A small miracle: a bittersweet portrait of love in the shadows * Booklist *
Each chapter holds a thousand tiny truths, not just what it is to be in a relationship, or to be gay, but what it is to simply negotiate life. Masterfully written ... Spread the word * Gay Community News *
