Something Might Fall

Synopsis

Exquisite, audacious, heartbreaking, one of those rare books that has the quality of lived experience.

”This is Flusfeder’s masterpiece.” —Julie Myerson

New York City 1970: Emma Hoffman is the great party-giver of the Upper West Side. She’s a writer, wife, mother, hostess, guest, trying to excel and trying to find a way through the agonies and complacencies of it all – because at any moment something might fall, perhaps herself. Four years later, her son is going out alone into the streets of Manhattan on his eleventh birthday, to make himself new, and prove to be worthy of the birthday letters he continues to receive from his lost, soaring mother.

Something Might Fall is a kind of historical fiction, set in a moment when women’s literary voices were being heard in a new, confessional, intimate way, but the conditions of those writers’ relationships and their domestic obligations were not so different from those of their mothers. The first part, which swoops and stutters between Emma Hoffman and her husband, Dr Nicholas Sawyer, is about a woman at the edge of herself and is also an account of a marriage, embodying two consciousnesses in a mutual misunderstanding and disappointment and hope and sometimes magic. The second part is limited to just one point of view, of their son Nicky, the living in aftermath, exploring Manhattan on his own on the occasion of his eleventh birthday.

Praise for This Book

‘Precise, sophisticated and shattering – and proof that seriously great writing has never been about length – this is Flusfeder’s masterpiece. As a writer, I envied every word. As a reader, I already know it's a book I’ll be coming back to again and again.’ —Julie Myerson

‘What an exquisite piece of writing – so beautiful, poignant and wise – a tour de force.’ —Joanna Kavenna

‘One of the reading pleasures of the year. I loved it so much. It is sophisticated and poignant, which is not an easy trick to pull off and I know it will stay with me long after I finished reading it.’ —Linda Grant

Reviews of This Book

‘Set in the 1970s, this slender New York tale begins in the per­spect­ive of Emma, a writer trapped by her life as host­ess wife to a phil­ander­ing doc­tor, wor­ry­ingly keen to put her on pills. Then we cut to her son, open­ing a let­ter from her on his 11th birth­day, four years after her death. Flusfeder’s sinu­ous prose mira­cu­lously crams all the emo­tional drama of a mul­tivolume fam­ily saga into just 80 pages.’ —Anthony Cum­mins, Mail on Sunday

‘This novel is divided into two halves. The first is an insightful study of the marriage of Emma Hoffman, a successful writer who “sees it all … ” and her Park Avenue doctor husband. It’s 1970 and on the surface they are a perfect, successful couple but all’s not well: “ … he pretends not to notice the glittery bright darkness that surrounds them.” It’s a morality tale in living a lie. The beginning employs an enjoyable, concise prose that condenses information. The second part follows their son as he wanders on his 11th birthday, grappling with the difficult relationship with his dad. Also … but let’s not spoil it. The second half perks up with the introduction of a homeless guy. This short book is sporadically moving and insightful.’ —Kevin Gildea, The Irish Times

‘The novella is set in two separate years, 1970 and 1974. In New York in 1970 … we meet Emma Hoffman, a discontented married writer who lives on the Upper West Side of the city, and has spent most of her marriage hosting upscale parties. Invitations to such parties are supposedly the social cachet of the in-crowd …’ —Jenni Frazer, The Jewish Chronicle

Praise for Previous Work

‘(On John the Pupil) Flusfeder just keeps getting better and better.’ —Mail on Sunday

‘(On John the Pupil) Plunges the 21st-century reader into a world where very little is recognisable. The fact that Flusfeder achieves this so triumphantly is highly impressive.’ —The Telegraph

‘(On Luck) Ruminative … page-turning.’ —TLS

‘(On Luck) Thrilling, intelligent and wilfully unique … I loved it.’ —James Runcie, author of The Great Passion

‘(On Luck) Fascinating … An eminently enjoyable and engrossing page-turner.’ —The Jewish Chronicle

‘(On A Film by Spencer Ludwig) A joy to read.’ —Deborah Orr, The Guardian

‘(On A Film by Spencer Ludwig) It's a road movie, it's a tender dialogue between parents and children, it's wonderfully embarrassing about how artists think about their art, but it also has the mark of great fiction: it feels like it has existed forever.’ —Julie Myerson, Observer

‘(On The Gift) Piercingly well-written … can be read as a psychological thriller, a meditation on the barrenness of modern, material life, or just a funny novel.’ —Andrew Martin, Daily Express

‘(On The Pagan House) Madly brilliant, hilarious and sometimes tender portrait of adolescent angst.’ —John Harding, The Daily Mail