Open, Heaven

Open, Heaven is a debut novel by acclaimed Irish poet Seán Hewitt, set over the course of a year in a remote village in northern England. It follows James, a shy sixteen-year-old coming to terms with his sexuality and yearning for a life beyond his rural community. When Luke, a slightly older and troubled boy with a difficult family background, arrives, their meeting sparks a profound and transformative connection that challenges their sense of belonging and self-understanding. With poetic lyricism and emotional depth, Hewitt crafts a story about desire, yearning, and the terror of first love. The novel not only captures the intensity of adolescent awakening but also questions the nature of love and memory, portraying a mesmerizing hymn to boyhood, sensuality, and the complexities of human connection. Open, Heaven has been praised for its striking economy of prose and its subtle subversion of coming-of-age tropes, positioning it alongside notable queer literary works.