Anne Michael's award-nominated novel Held, which was published in early 2024, is set over the course of four generations and examines how one generation's actions can have long-lasting repercussions. The novel begins in 1917, at the tail end of World War I and follows a young man named John, who was just injured in a battle during the first World War. John questions if he will live or die. After he returns home, John takes up where photography, which leads him to look into his family's history. From there, Michaels follows John's children (and their children after that), as they deal with the fallout from John's actions, his business, and the rest of the character's actions. It is a novel about the nature of humanity and the destructive and transformative nature of war.
Upon its release, Michael's novel received exceptionally positive reviews and was a widespread financial success. For instance, Alice Jolly of The Guardian said that "While the fluid structure of this work may be challenging for some readers, it’s clear that Michaels’s writing continues to stand head and shoulders above most other fiction."
