And Then She Fell: A Novel
A Globe and Mail "Best Book of 2023"; a Most Anticipated Book Pick by Good Morning America, Bustle, CrimeReads, Electric Literature, Debutiful, Ms. Magazine, The Nerd Daily, and Paste
A mind-bending, razor-sharp look at motherhood and mental health that follows a young Indigenous woman who discovers the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences
On the surface, Alice is exactly where she thinks she should be: Sheâs just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Dawn; her charming husband, Steveâa white academic whose area of study is conveniently her own Mohawk cultureâis nothing but supportive; and theyâve moved into a new home in a posh Toronto neighborhood. But Alice could not feel like more of an impostor. She isnât connecting with her daughter, a struggle made even more difficult by the recent loss of her own mother, and every waking moment is spent hiding her despair from Steve and their ever-watchful neighbors, among whom sheâs the sole Indigenous resident. Even when she does have a minute to herself, her perpetual self-doubt hinders the one vestige of her old life she has left: her goal of writing a modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story.
Then, as if all that wasnât enough, strange things start to happen. She finds herself losing bits of time and hearing voices she canât explain, all while her neighborsâ passive-aggressive behavior begins to morph into something far more threatening. Though Steve assures her this is all in her head, Alice cannot fight the feeling that something is very, very wrong, and that in her creation story lies the key to her and Dawnâs survival.... She just has to finish it before itâs too late.
Told in Aliceâs raw and darkly funny voice, And Then She Fell is an urgent and unflinching exploration of inherited trauma, womanhood, denial, and false allyship, which speeds to an unpredictableâand surrealâclimax.
A mind-bending, razor-sharp look at motherhood and mental health that follows a young Indigenous woman who discovers the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences
On the surface, Alice is exactly where she thinks she should be: Sheâs just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Dawn; her charming husband, Steveâa white academic whose area of study is conveniently her own Mohawk cultureâis nothing but supportive; and theyâve moved into a new home in a posh Toronto neighborhood. But Alice could not feel like more of an impostor. She isnât connecting with her daughter, a struggle made even more difficult by the recent loss of her own mother, and every waking moment is spent hiding her despair from Steve and their ever-watchful neighbors, among whom sheâs the sole Indigenous resident. Even when she does have a minute to herself, her perpetual self-doubt hinders the one vestige of her old life she has left: her goal of writing a modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story.
Then, as if all that wasnât enough, strange things start to happen. She finds herself losing bits of time and hearing voices she canât explain, all while her neighborsâ passive-aggressive behavior begins to morph into something far more threatening. Though Steve assures her this is all in her head, Alice cannot fight the feeling that something is very, very wrong, and that in her creation story lies the key to her and Dawnâs survival.... She just has to finish it before itâs too late.
Told in Aliceâs raw and darkly funny voice, And Then She Fell is an urgent and unflinching exploration of inherited trauma, womanhood, denial, and false allyship, which speeds to an unpredictableâand surrealâclimax.
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