The Long Falling - Softcover

Ridgway, Keith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0571195601 ISBN 13: 9780571195602

Publisher: Faber and Faber, 1999

Synopsis

Grace Quinn is an Englishwoman who has lived in rural Ireland all her adult life but is still a stranger. Haunted by the death of one son, for which her brutal husband blames her, and by the absence of another, Martin, Grace makes a decision which she hopes will alter everything. It breaks her world into pieces, and leads her into another - the city, Martin's world. The nightmare which follows draws Grace towards a place less sure, slowly filling her with hope and dread.

A brilliant portrayal of of a woman on the edge, a touching portrait of a mother and son, an examination of the nature of longing and belonging, notions of foreignness and what constitutes being a foreigner, The Long Falling is a powerful and haunting novel.

About this title

From the Publisher

Praise for The Long Falling
‘This impressive debut remains a disturbing reminder of how easy it is ‘to kill or destroy or unhinge a life.’’Observer

‘An exceptional first novel, The Long Falling grips you from the word go, and after you’ve put it down, stays in the mind...Both a murder story and a love story, the book is also an unflinching vision of a clash of culture and morality in Ireland.’ Big Issue

‘Complex, harrowing...narrative skill, mastery of language, a humane insight into the muddles people make of their lives.’ The Times

‘If and when this novel is read in decades to come, it will be regarded as a good indicator of how liberal Ireland explained itself during the 1990s. ‘ Irish Times

‘It is that rarity among novels, not just among firsts, in that its characters...are every one realised, branded uniquely in the reader’s imagination, sent out to foray and raid the corners of one’s consciousness. They rain on you. The pleasure this brings is the pleasure of the discovery of a writer whose gifts run deep. The Long Falling may be a calling card of some specialness...It’s a book with echoes, ripples, antecedents.... Dublin too comes to life with a Joycean flourish.... His is a multi-faceted talent bursting with writerly intuition and intelligence. The finest debut novel, I’ve read in years.’ Scotland on Sunday

‘A powerful exposure of the new, reforming, optimistic Irish...In this, it echoes the work to which it recurringly refers, offering an updating of Joyce’s penetrating gaze, in The Dead, on the relation between the educated, bourgeois, cosmopolite ‘second city of empire’ and the stark suffering that lies in that city’s barren and insular hinterland.’ TLS

‘Ridgway has a sympathetic spirit and an observant eye.’ Independent

‘An accomplished piece of work, with a good eye for the cumulative effect of apparently insignificant detail.... keenly observed.’ Sunday Independent (Dublin)

‘Keith Ridgway has achieved that rarest of things – a distinct and original ‘voice’, at once atmospheric and engaging.... This complex and excellent novel is hauntingly written and Ridgway treats his themes well, without ever resorting to the obvious.’ Gay Times

About the Author

Keith Ridgway was born in 1965 in Dublin. His novella Horses first appeared in Faber First Fictions in 1997 and was followed in 1998 by his critically acclaimed first novel The Long Falling, which has since been awarded both the prestigious Prix Femina Etranger and Premier Roman Etranger in France. His stories have appeared in various anthologies in Ireland, Britain and the United States. His collection of stories, Standard Time, won the Rooney Prize in 2001. His most recent novel, The Parts, was published by Faber in 2003. He lives in London.Find out more by visiting Keith's website here.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber and Faber
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0571195601
• ISBN 13: 9780571195602
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320