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Hold Your Fire
Winner of the 2022 NSW Premier's Literary Award's UTS Glenda Adams Award for New WritingShortlisted for 2022 Margaret and Colin Roderick Literary AwardChosen as a ‘Book of the Year’ in the Sydney Morning Herald and Kill Your DarlingsDark and dangerous, brilliantly unsettling and chillingly funny, this extraordinary debut shows us what we usually deny – the uneasy truce we make with our ruthless desires and gothic fears, and how easily it can be broken. Prize-winning author Chloe Wilson’s stories will pin you to the page‘Chilling, funny, and razor sharp – a writer in control every step of the way. How I relished this extraordinary and original collection.’ Sofie Laguna, Miles Franklin winner for The Eye of the SheepThe debut of an unforgettable new voice in Australian fiction, Hold Your Fire exposes the battles we wage beneath the surface.The title story takes us into the cold war of a contemporary a missile-making mother doubts her husband’s guts and the steel of her son, until a playground incident escalates and brings them into the most surprising of alliances.Needle-sharp, effortlessly surprising and beautifully controlled, every tale will pin you to the page. A youngcouple move into a house in which there’s been a recent murder, and fall under the spell of their peculiar, commanding neighbours. Two sisters are determined to detoxify themselves into perfection. A diver pushes herself and those around her to higher and higher leaps. Interspersed with these are lightning strikes offlash we glimpse a leopard in the apartment next door; plants grown out of a strange and miraculous soil;the spirit of a girl who’s been thrown down a well.At each turn, Chloe Wilson offers a unique insight, a tear in the veil of our moral certainties. Her stories strip away the varnish of our decency to reveal the raw mechanics beneath.‘I absolutely LOVED this collection.’ Leigh Sales‘Chloe Wilson’s stories are spooky, profound, thrilling, hilarious and unbelievably beautiful. She shows us things we don’t dare see — desire and power, love and subterranean violence — with such mastery that the sheer beauty of them blows you away. I want to read everything she’s ever written, everything she’ll ever write. A truly extraordinary writer.’ Anna Funder, author of Miles-Franklin winning All That I Am and Stasiland‘The stories in Chloe Wilson’s Hold Your Fire are full of wit, intelligence, savage humour, and dark surprises. They combine the brilliant menace of Ottessa Mossfegh with the insight and control of Helen Garner; the result is a new Australian writer who made me feel less like a reader and more like a conspirator. I was transfixed.’ Fiona McFarlane, author of Miles Franklin-shortlisted The Night Guest and The High Places‘These stories are wonderfully strange, complex yet funny; they are otherworldly and unearthly but at the same time an expression of how we live in the world right now. Chloe Wilson is the magician who by her art brings to light all we usually prefer to keep hidden.’ Ceridwen Dovey, author of Only the Animals and In the Garden of the Fugitives'Incisive and darkly funny' Books & Publishing'***** ... marks the arrival of a new powerhouse in Australian short fiction' The AU Review
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2021
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619 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
March 22, 2021
I don’t know who Chloe Wilson is but she’s my new favourite short story writer (and I’d like to be her best friend). These stories are so perfectly and achingly weird, funny, smart and dark. They’re all good but the title story is particularly brilliant. This is a statement debut collection and I’ll read anything Wilson writes next.
May 30, 2021
Burnt my hands
March 11, 2021
2.5 stars
So Chloe Wilson is a brilliant and very smart writer. The short stories were strange, witty and exposed dark truths people like to hide behind closed doors. But unfortunately I just didn’t actually enjoy the stories that much. I was never excited to pick this up and see what was next. I couldn’t really relate to any of the characters because they were so foreign and different to me and also couldn’t connect to them because they featured for such small stints of time. I think that was part of the point to introduce these unusual, never seen before characters and stories so you’re stuck reading out of weird fascination. Hold Your Fire had great writing and insights, but it just didn’t hold my attention like I hoped it would.
So Chloe Wilson is a brilliant and very smart writer. The short stories were strange, witty and exposed dark truths people like to hide behind closed doors. But unfortunately I just didn’t actually enjoy the stories that much. I was never excited to pick this up and see what was next. I couldn’t really relate to any of the characters because they were so foreign and different to me and also couldn’t connect to them because they featured for such small stints of time. I think that was part of the point to introduce these unusual, never seen before characters and stories so you’re stuck reading out of weird fascination. Hold Your Fire had great writing and insights, but it just didn’t hold my attention like I hoped it would.
December 9, 2020
Quite casually picked up the reading copy of this at work on my lunch break and from the first story (a mere page-long wonder) I was enthralled - right through 'til the end. There's always some 'filler' in short story collections, but none of these were that. They were seriously just all that good. With crystallised, controlled prose, each story has just enough undulating suggestion and subtext to make the whole so much bigger than its parts; to make possibilities, moments and feelings kind of explode in your mind and lodge there.
Wilson never treats her reader like a fool by over-explaining. In one story where she could have -'The Harbour' - the 'twist' was delivered with such straightforwardness after such restraint that I felt almost smacked by it. Basically put, it's a story of two sisters who go on an extreme detoxing retreat. I won't say anything more because it needs to be read blind, as do most of these, but it was incredibly done and affected me in ways I can't quite place yet. My favourite story, though, was 'The Drydown' - a story about a young woman's waning emotional life after starting anti-depressant/anxiety medication. As somebody who has been on SSRIs for almost a decade now, it hit me right where I didn't think I could hurt anymore.
I enjoyed the varied lengths and modes of the stories, and the sheer unpredictability of each one. Ultimately it was the uncanny believability of most of the stories that had me hooked, like Wilson has some sort of x-ray view into quite ugly and malformed parts of our psyche - which, exposed as they are in Wilson's fiction - become transformed, illuminated, and kind of magnificent. As Ceridwen Dovey noted it's like Wilson "is the magician who by her art brings to light all we usually prefer to keep hidden." So this definitely isn't a comforting/escapist read, and it can be a little meandering (I loved the idea of 'The One You've Been Waiting For' but didn't think it was executed as well as it could have been), but it's just perfect if you, like me, live for fiction that explores the dark, weird, odd and unexpected - with enough moments of levity and humour to balance things a bit.
It's great to be surprised and thrilled by new fiction right now. This has been one of my favourites of this cursed year of our dark lord 2020. I will for sure be watching out for Chloe Wilson's work in the future.
Wilson never treats her reader like a fool by over-explaining. In one story where she could have -'The Harbour' - the 'twist' was delivered with such straightforwardness after such restraint that I felt almost smacked by it. Basically put, it's a story of two sisters who go on an extreme detoxing retreat. I won't say anything more because it needs to be read blind, as do most of these, but it was incredibly done and affected me in ways I can't quite place yet. My favourite story, though, was 'The Drydown' - a story about a young woman's waning emotional life after starting anti-depressant/anxiety medication. As somebody who has been on SSRIs for almost a decade now, it hit me right where I didn't think I could hurt anymore.
I enjoyed the varied lengths and modes of the stories, and the sheer unpredictability of each one. Ultimately it was the uncanny believability of most of the stories that had me hooked, like Wilson has some sort of x-ray view into quite ugly and malformed parts of our psyche - which, exposed as they are in Wilson's fiction - become transformed, illuminated, and kind of magnificent. As Ceridwen Dovey noted it's like Wilson "is the magician who by her art brings to light all we usually prefer to keep hidden." So this definitely isn't a comforting/escapist read, and it can be a little meandering (I loved the idea of 'The One You've Been Waiting For' but didn't think it was executed as well as it could have been), but it's just perfect if you, like me, live for fiction that explores the dark, weird, odd and unexpected - with enough moments of levity and humour to balance things a bit.
It's great to be surprised and thrilled by new fiction right now. This has been one of my favourites of this cursed year of our dark lord 2020. I will for sure be watching out for Chloe Wilson's work in the future.
March 23, 2021
Hmmmm. Maybe I’m just not a short story kinda gal. I felt myself asking the question,”What did I just read?” far too many times for this to be an enjoyable experience. The stories were just weird. After about the third story, I really wanted to put the book down. But no, I’m not a quitter so persevere I did. I should’ve listened to my instincts. Sorry, but I just really didn’t enjoy this at all. I think the writing was okay. I just didn’t enjoy the content; it was just weird.
November 28, 2021
‘Hold Your Fire’ by Chloe Wilson is a debut short story collection, and surely a new Aussie author to watch. I didn’t have many expectations going in, as it doesn’t seem to be a book that has been talked about, but now I think it should be. Wilson provides a wide palette of stories on different thoughts and feelings and themes of society. She does so both with originality and prose in a collection that offers a preview of her talents as a writer. I throughly enjoyed every story of ‘Hold Your Fire’, and what a great cover too. I can’t wait to see what Chloe Wilson publishes next and I will be recommending this to more people!
June 30, 2021
Loved this collection of super inventive short stories and micro fiction. What a talent.
July 29, 2022
I’m three quarters of the way through but I think I’m going to stop, because I’ve already got enough in my brain now for a broad range of nightmares.
These stories are clever and well written but, without exception, very dark and twisted. A large proportion of the characters appear to be sociopaths, and most others are either dopey or garden-variety jerks, not even in the sense of being flawed or complex, just straight-out horrible or hopeless.
For these reasons the stories are impressive but not enjoyable. I’m gonna go read some paperback crime fiction which I suspect will be less violent…?
These stories are clever and well written but, without exception, very dark and twisted. A large proportion of the characters appear to be sociopaths, and most others are either dopey or garden-variety jerks, not even in the sense of being flawed or complex, just straight-out horrible or hopeless.
For these reasons the stories are impressive but not enjoyable. I’m gonna go read some paperback crime fiction which I suspect will be less violent…?
November 3, 2022
Best book I’ve read all year and in a long time!
March 6, 2023
3.5
Some interesting messages but I didn’t really like that the women either had no personalities or weirdly simplified ones, which I guess was the point
Some interesting messages but I didn’t really like that the women either had no personalities or weirdly simplified ones, which I guess was the point
April 20, 2022
This was one of those books that I picked up several times in bookshops, glanced at on BorrowBox, finally borrowed from the library and then still slept on it, all because the Goodreads rating was a bit average. Why do I never learn that Goodreads is not always the best barometer!?
I really enjoyed this debut collection of short stories. They were weird, but not TOO weird, dark, but not TOO dark. They were funny and smart, and gave just the right amount of that certain something so that I didn’t feel unsatisfied when they were over, like you sometimes do with short stories.
Hold Your Fire is also filled with very unlikeable characters, ranging from those who abuse their power to people who are just a bit insipid. If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I’m really keen on an unlikeable character, especially women, and this collection has that in spades. The relationships between characters are also odd and don’t always make a lot of sense, but this is clearly very intentional and Wilson is not afraid to scrutinise.
The stories that have lingered in my psyche are The Harbour, about two sisters who will go to extreme lengths to ‘detox’, and Hold Your Fire, about a woman who works as a weapons engineer while her husband waits for a faecal transplant (yes, you read right) and their son’s behaviour becomes increasingly worrying.
I did feel like this book held back on the fire a little too much (see what I did there 😉) and didn’t have a huge amount of spark, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless and recommend if you’re in the market for a good debut short story collection.
I really enjoyed this debut collection of short stories. They were weird, but not TOO weird, dark, but not TOO dark. They were funny and smart, and gave just the right amount of that certain something so that I didn’t feel unsatisfied when they were over, like you sometimes do with short stories.
Hold Your Fire is also filled with very unlikeable characters, ranging from those who abuse their power to people who are just a bit insipid. If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I’m really keen on an unlikeable character, especially women, and this collection has that in spades. The relationships between characters are also odd and don’t always make a lot of sense, but this is clearly very intentional and Wilson is not afraid to scrutinise.
The stories that have lingered in my psyche are The Harbour, about two sisters who will go to extreme lengths to ‘detox’, and Hold Your Fire, about a woman who works as a weapons engineer while her husband waits for a faecal transplant (yes, you read right) and their son’s behaviour becomes increasingly worrying.
I did feel like this book held back on the fire a little too much (see what I did there 😉) and didn’t have a huge amount of spark, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless and recommend if you’re in the market for a good debut short story collection.
April 3, 2022
This collection of short stories was great. They were funny, dark and emphasised absurdity within mundane topics.
None of the characters were fully likeable which made them feel fleshed out. Every relationship in Wilson’s stories felt like they had an underlying layer of discontentment towards each other which I lived for.
Favourite stories were Hold Your Fire, Rip and Break Character.
None of the characters were fully likeable which made them feel fleshed out. Every relationship in Wilson’s stories felt like they had an underlying layer of discontentment towards each other which I lived for.
Favourite stories were Hold Your Fire, Rip and Break Character.
May 3, 2021
I struggled with this book. There was a lot of hype and maybe I went in with too high expectations. I am not a huge short story fan but I really wanted to like this book. I thought it was well written but I found most of the stories depressing or just kinda mean.
July 23, 2021
Nasty characters.
May 4, 2021
Hold Your Fire – Chloe Wilson
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in order to provide an honest review.
Chloe Wilson is an Australian author who has written many short stories.
Chloe Wilson has also written two poetry collections, “The Mermaid Problem” and “Not Fox Nor Axe”, she has won prizes for her awards as well.
“Hold Your Fire” is a collection of short stories, a collection of short stories that look at our darkest secrets and sometimes our darkest desires.
The person that we do not acknowledge and for the most part, try not to let come to the surface.
Each short story was captivating and pulled you in, but what I found frustrating, was the fact that some of the stories were so short.
I wanted more, what happens next, are they okay – and the like.
But honestly that’s more of a personal preference than anything else and not a reflection on the writing.
The author is really talented, to be able to capture the attention and imagination of the reader in such a short time and repeatedly the way this author has done, is a definite skill.
If you are a reader who enjoys short stories then this is one book you should definitely add to your bookshelf.
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in order to provide an honest review.
Chloe Wilson is an Australian author who has written many short stories.
Chloe Wilson has also written two poetry collections, “The Mermaid Problem” and “Not Fox Nor Axe”, she has won prizes for her awards as well.
“Hold Your Fire” is a collection of short stories, a collection of short stories that look at our darkest secrets and sometimes our darkest desires.
The person that we do not acknowledge and for the most part, try not to let come to the surface.
Each short story was captivating and pulled you in, but what I found frustrating, was the fact that some of the stories were so short.
I wanted more, what happens next, are they okay – and the like.
But honestly that’s more of a personal preference than anything else and not a reflection on the writing.
The author is really talented, to be able to capture the attention and imagination of the reader in such a short time and repeatedly the way this author has done, is a definite skill.
If you are a reader who enjoys short stories then this is one book you should definitely add to your bookshelf.
September 2, 2024
This review is for the short story 'Tongue-Tied' by Chloe Wilson, currently available on NetGalley as a sample of the book. It reminded me of 'The Dinner Party and Other Stories' by Joshua Ferris - precisely written, unsettling and with a clear-eyed cynicism.
The quality of the descriptions of places, atmospheres and human foibles is outstanding, for example this description of the interior of a house: "it had the thin, held-breath confidence of someone trying to get away with something", or this about a young woman in shock: "It was the look of someone still blankly waiting for a bus long after everyone else had realised it isn't coming."
If I had a criticism, it's that while the story was carefully and precisely structured, it could have benefitted from a bit more pace. It was a satisfying read, but one I had to make a conscious effort to be patient with as it unfolded. Overall though, it is an intriguing taster for the rest of the collection.
The quality of the descriptions of places, atmospheres and human foibles is outstanding, for example this description of the interior of a house: "it had the thin, held-breath confidence of someone trying to get away with something", or this about a young woman in shock: "It was the look of someone still blankly waiting for a bus long after everyone else had realised it isn't coming."
If I had a criticism, it's that while the story was carefully and precisely structured, it could have benefitted from a bit more pace. It was a satisfying read, but one I had to make a conscious effort to be patient with as it unfolded. Overall though, it is an intriguing taster for the rest of the collection.
February 3, 2023
I screamed, I cackled, I winced my way through these delicious short stories. Hold Your Fire begins with the short-short story The Leopard Next Door, in which the narrator’s neighbour buys a leopard with severe consequences. The following, longer story Tongue-tied introduces an ex-PE teacher and her partner Pete on the hunt for a house, their real estate agent the former student Cilla who the narrator used to deride. They’re like like the Twits but smarter, and so worse, but by the end Wilson gives them a little redemption. Not so for Marc in Powerful Owl, who takes in a young woman as a nanny in his idyllic but threatening mansion, like one of Robin Boyd’s beautiful-but-austere bush palaces. Read more on my blog.
September 9, 2024
With thanks to the author, publishers Simon and Schuster UK, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC containing a sample of this book in exchange for my honest review.
NOTE: This review is based only on a single story “Tongue Tied”.
This was an interesting short story about a couple who are house hunting, and the estate agent showing them the properties. I enjoyed how the author was able to flip my initial impressions of both the couple and the estate agent on their heads within a relatively small number of pages, and was encouraged to want to read more!
NOTE: This review is based only on a single story “Tongue Tied”.
This was an interesting short story about a couple who are house hunting, and the estate agent showing them the properties. I enjoyed how the author was able to flip my initial impressions of both the couple and the estate agent on their heads within a relatively small number of pages, and was encouraged to want to read more!
September 11, 2021
I don't know much about short stories, so I'm worried I'm not a good person to be reviewing this collection. I did enjoy a lot of this book, but every single story left me feeling incomplete or disconnected from the content; like I didn't thoroughly understand what was happening, or the point (if there was one).
Overall, this is perfectly fine. On a personal note, it highlights a deficiency in my reading.
Overall, this is perfectly fine. On a personal note, it highlights a deficiency in my reading.
September 11, 2024
I received this ARC sampler from NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK | Scribner in exchange for a free and honest review.
The short story featured was titled "Tongue tied", it follows a couple that are house hunting and their realtor is a former student of one of them. Cilia, their realtor was a little strange in school and she remembers incidents from her past that link them together. A short but good read and I can't wait to read the whole collection.
The short story featured was titled "Tongue tied", it follows a couple that are house hunting and their realtor is a former student of one of them. Cilia, their realtor was a little strange in school and she remembers incidents from her past that link them together. A short but good read and I can't wait to read the whole collection.
April 6, 2021
I'm not the best at writing reviews, so suffice it to say this book is weird, funny, smart and dark. They had the same feel to me as a lot of Neil Gaiman's works, or Tim Burton's films in that there were undercurrents/themes just beyond my grasp. If anyone ends up including this in a book club, let me know as I'd love to hear what you have to say about some of the stories :)
September 30, 2021
I loved this collection of eerie, off-kilter, mind-scewing short stories. The characters are so deliciously flawed and unique, I was propelled through the book with sheer morbid fascination.
This is like reading Shirley Jackson for the 21st century.
Looking forward to reading everything the author writes in the future, I'm hooked.
This is like reading Shirley Jackson for the 21st century.
Looking forward to reading everything the author writes in the future, I'm hooked.
September 10, 2025
Sentence by sentence, the stories in this book are unlike any I've read before. There's an obsessive precision to the descriptions that makes every scene eerie and fascinating. It's realism but with the strangeness of sci fi and the dread of horror. Highly recommended for anyone into literary fiction. It definitely lived up to the hype for me.
April 7, 2021
Funny, dark and very weird characters inhabit this book of quirky short stories. I love reading short stories but felt there was something missing here. Probably 3.5 stars as I read them all & smiled quite often.
October 14, 2021
One of the freshest, smartest short story books I've read in ages. Pessimistic and dark but in a fun way. Found myself relating to some of the most unlikeable characters (...). Can't wait to read more.
June 6, 2022
3.5 ⭐️
It’s good, I’d recommend it, I enjoyed it, but I found myself constantly yelling ‘that was just an unfinished story! That’s not a short story!!!!’ at the pages. But it was good. Just sometimes frustrating.
It’s good, I’d recommend it, I enjoyed it, but I found myself constantly yelling ‘that was just an unfinished story! That’s not a short story!!!!’ at the pages. But it was good. Just sometimes frustrating.
July 5, 2022
Such compelling short stories! I’ve never been one for anthologies, I tend to prefer really delving into one story and the characters, but this one kept me interested the whole way through. Very dark and witty!
July 1, 2024
This is a collection of short stories. There were two really excellent stories in this collection, but a lot of them veered either very close to or just on the wrong side of pretentiousness, and there seemed to be a common theme of meanspiritdness just for the sake of it which I didn't really love.
March 22, 2021
Very quirky and original short stories.
May 17, 2021
Short stories - both strange and familiar - and beautifully written.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews