The Long Falling - Softcover

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.

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.