Falling - Softcover

Howard, Elizabeth Jane

3.9

957 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330368893 ISBN 13: 9780330368896

Publisher: Pan Books, 2000

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Harry Kent is a sensitive man in late middle age, a reader and a thinker, without means perhaps but not without charm.

Daisy has recovered from her unhappy past by learning to be self-sufficient, and viewing trust as a weakness. But there is still a part of her that yearns to be cared for once more.

It is this part that Henry sees, and with dedicated and calculated patience he works at her defences. So it is that despite all attempts to resist his attentions, Daisy finds herself falling under Henry’s spell...

‘Troubling, subtle and distinctive... completely unputdownable.’ Miranda Seymour, Independent

‘A superb storyteller whose elegantly written novels never fail to pull you in... she tells a taut and compelling story with a subtle build-up of tension that will keep the reader worrying till the end.’ Sunday Express

‘And engaging study of love which explores our deepest needs and desires.’ Tatler

‘I found myself seduced by her clever evocation of people and places, her perfect ear for dialogue and her elegant, sensitive portrayal of contemporary life.’ Sunday Telegraph

‘A novel which, although full of subtle touches, is as unputdownable as any thriller.’ The Times

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Review:

To the delight of her many readers, Elizabeth Jane Howard has been producing prose of a subtlety, intelligence and feeling that has rarely faltered during the 50 years she has been writing. She is able to successfully straddle the disparate worlds of the popular and literary novel and this new book is among her most accomplished. Choosing a cynical and compromised first- person narrator, Howard introduces us to Henry Kent--a man looking for a woman--preferably one with a little money. Henry, in late middle age, is living without means on a dank houseboat. Getting by on his charm is no longer feasible and when writer Daisy Langrish buys a cottage close by, he sets his sights on her. But those around Daisy--her agent, her daughter--begin to ask questions about him. And the revelations they uncover have them very worried indeed. With a tone reminiscent of William Trevor, this is Howard at her most psychologically perceptive: her subject here is nothing less than an ambitious exploration of love, dealing in a dispassionate way with both the joys and the dangers. She demonstrates that the need to be first in someone's affections is a seductive but risky business and her powerful rendering of human emotion has the same scalpel-like precision as The Cazalet Chronicle. Many regard the latter as Howard's finest book, but this new volume is likely to change perceptions. Henry is fascinatingly characterised (we are allowed a nicely ambiguous attitude to him) and the slow but assured unwinding of the narrative grips with memorable force. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

'This was a triumph for naturalism over formulaic drama that worked in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s novel’ -- Stephen Pile, Daily Telegraph, 12 March, about the ITV dramatisation of the novel

‘It was as mature, unshowy and skilful as its leading actors ... Classy stuff, in short’ -- Kathryn Flett, Observer, 13 March, about the ITV dramatisation of the novel.

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