The Long Falling

Ridgway, Keith

ISBN 10: 0395905303 / ISBN 13: 9780395905302

Published by Houghton Mifflin, 1998

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0395905303 Author's first book. Bookseller Inventory #

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3.53 avg rating •

(103 ratings)

Synopsis: A brilliant portrayal of a woman pushed to the edge, The Long Falling movingly explores the distance between a mother and her son, between a woman and her community, and between longing and belonging. Grace Quinn is an Englishwoman who has lived her entire adult life in rural Ireland but is still an outsider. Isolated by religion and circumstance, she endures an abusive husband -- who blames her for the death of their young son some twenty years earlier -- and an increasingly estranged relationship with her surviving son, Martin, whose open homosexuality her husband refuses to accept. Through a series of ill-fated events, Grace is emboldened to commit an act of desperation. Reeling in the aftermath, haunted by doubt and denial, she seeks out Martin in Dublin. There she is pursued by the police and an ambitious newspaper reporter. Confused about where to turn and whom to trust, she is cornered -- and what unfolds is an uncompromising examination of the complex nature of love, fear, and betrayal. The Long Falling is a powerful debut novel that is certain to establish Keith Ridgway as one of the most promising writers to emerge from Ireland in recent years.

Review: Sin and salvation are the two themes of Keith Ridgway's wonderful first novel, The Long Falling. But as in life and great art, the definitions of these terms are neither simple nor clear. Grace Quinn is an abused wife whose husband's drinking has led to a car accident and the death of a young woman. As a result, they are shunned in their small rural Irish village. After her spouse's death in what most likely was a retaliatory hit-and-run accident, Grace moves to Dublin to be with Martin, her gay son who left home and his abusive father years before. In this new setting, Grace and Martin begin to form a new relationship--until secrets from the past threaten to destroy their lives. Ridgway knows how to tell a story, but the strength of the novel is in its insightful and compelling emotional details. Succinct, poetic, and emotionally shattering, The Long Falling is not simply a fine debut, but the beginning of an illustrious career.

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Long Falling
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Publication Date: 1998
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Fine
Edition: First Edition