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Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Fall River by Meredith Miller @Honno @GWASGHonnoPress @FallRiverUK
A mesmerising small-town drama packed with intrigue Book blurb One young woman disappears as another returns. Alice has turned to the river looking to drown the voices in her head. Khadija has come home to uncover the terrible history hidden b…
A mesmerising small-town drama packed with intrigue
Book blurb
One young woman disappears as another returns. Alice has turned to the river looking to drown the voices in her head. Khadija has come home to uncover the terrible history hidden beneath its surface. The London train screeches by while the rest of the town is still asleep along the banks of the Tamar. They'll wake up that morning to find that everything, and nothing, has changed. Sooner or later, the river pulls them all. Sooner or later, someone falls...
A story of friendship and love, Miller crafts an unfolding psychological mystery, blending lyrical storytelling with a cast of strong female characters.
My thoughts
Alice's story opens the way into a book which I found fascinating, funny, heartbreaking, heartwarming and captivating.
Alice hears voices from the river and as a teenager that's a lot to cope with. Tamara hears the voices too but she is older and has learnt to listen and cope with them. Alice struggles and is unable to resist going to the river and giving herself up to it. Tamara feels she should have done more to help Alice, is it too late now?
Khadija is leaving London going home to Saltash, to her family, because she has come to realise that the big city hasn't got any more answers than anywhere else. Saltash has both the women she loves and is a place that she can just as easily get answers to her questions about the asbestos that killed so many including some she loved. There's a lot about men dying and not just from that killer dust. Craig is one of them and his death is a thorn in Khadija's side. She had gone to London to study law, she found a friend, Farah but with the study over and Farah on her own road there's not enough to keep her.
Fall River is full of wonderful characters - Alice, Khadija, Tamara and Carol, Jo, Tina and Nora.
Alice and Charlie are seeing each other and Alice going missing is devastating for him. Nora, Charles - as she prefers to call him - is her grandson, can see that. Nora wants to provide for him, she loves Charles unlike her son, Andrew, who she has never taken to. Andrew's wife, Tina, has long ago stopped caring for him too. Andrew only cares for himself. Andrew only cares about getting what he wants anything else he does is simply to that end. That's not the reason Tina is a Samaritan she cares about people but it's a good reason to keep her out of the house. A house she stays in because she loves her son.
Then there's Jo, she pregnant. She's with Ben although the baby isn't his - biologically. Ben's a lovely guy protective and kind he does jobs about the house for Tamara his aunt. Jo, Alice and Khadija are cousins. Jo is a filmmaker, if you will, posting on Vimeo scenes of life and characters she comes across. She did it for her college presentation, she's good at it and dreams of becoming a famous filmmaker.
Carol is Khadija's mum, her father was Moroccan long gone though Khadija is wondering if she could find him and explore that part of her heritage. Andrew Osbourne, Nora's son, is head of the academy where Carol works. Her job along with other support staff is being TUPE'd several have already been made redundant. She gives Khadija a tin box from Craig's sister, Beth. Khadija was with her the night Craig went off the bridge into the river Tamar. Beth is not in a good place hasn't been since her brother died. What did happen that night? Was he really so upset about Khadija leaving that he took his own life?
Alice's mum, Debbie, is Carol sister. Jo and Khadija's aunt. Debbie and her husband Pete have taken Alice's disappearance badly, as you might expect, so Jo and Khadija are helping out as they can.
Khadija loves Tamara, calls her aunt Tammy although they're not blood related. She often sat with Micky, Tammy's husband, reading when he couldn't get out of bed anymore because of the asbestos that was killing him, a horrible long drawn out death that no one should have had to suffer. She knows that the class action lawsuit was settled but there are answers she needs. It's not fair that there hasn't been anyone held to account. That they have all just carried on getting rich off the backs of ordinary people is disgraceful. It's time someone gave them a taste of their own medicine!
There's a lot covered in this book though complex it flows beautifully like the river that is so central to its story, it covers six years ebbing and flowing through 2016 to 2014, 2012, 2010 and back again. Washing its way through the stories of these women until their memories and investigations merge so that the truth comes bursting out and they are finally able to get their own kind of justice.
This book will live with me a long time. It's beautifully written, has a great sense of place, a wonderful array of characters, the plot, subjects and themes though not always easy and often devastating are written in such a well crafted manner that they make the whole book a joy to read.
Simply put it's well worth reading, I highly recommend.
Thanks
Huge thanks to Isobel for the invitation to read Fall River by Meredith Miller and to Honno for a copy of Fall Riverin order to read and share my thoughts on.
BlogTour
Take a look at what all these lovely folk had to say about Fall Riverbeforepurchasing a copy for yourself via the links below.
Information
Published: Honno | 21 March 2024 | ISBN 9781912905980
Hooray for Honno! For a quarter of a century its classic and contemporary titles have been reminding us why Welsh women's voices should be nurtured and celebrated, why Welsh women's writing should be read and re-read. Wales, the UK, and the British literary scene would all be the poorer without Honno.
Author: Meredith Miller was born and raised on Long Island, in New York. Before moving to the UK in 1997, she lived on the beach in Oregon for a little while, and in New Orleans for a longer while. She has published two previous novels, Little Wrecks (2017) and How We Learned to Lie (2018). She lives in midWales in a tiny house with a chapel attached. A Welsh learner, Meredith is currently restoring the chapel as a literary and cultural space for the Welsh language.
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