And Then She Fell: LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2024

Mesmeric, intoxicatingly original' Hannah Kent, bestselling author of Burial Rites 'Haunting and surreal, And Then She Fell had me questioning reality alongside Alice as she grappled with motherhood, being a writer, a wife, and feeling like an outsider in her own life. With its sharp wit and beautiful writing, this book had me flying through the pages.' Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Pines 'A towering achievement, stunningly good storytelling.' Melissa Lucashenko, Miles Franklin Award winning author of Too Much Lip On the surface, Alice is exactly where she should be in life: she's just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Dawn/her ever-charming husband Steve-a white academic whose area of study is conveniently her own Mohawk culture-is nothing but supportive/and they've moved into a new home in a wealthy neighbourhood in Toronto, a generous gift from her in-laws. But Alice could not feel more like an imposter. She isn't bonding with Dawn, a struggle made more difficult by the recent loss of her own mother. Every waking moment is spent hiding her despair from Steve and their picture-perfect neighbours, amongst whom she's the sole Indigenous resident. Her perpetual self-doubt hinders the one vestige of her old life she has left: writing a modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee creation story. And then strange things start happening. Alice finds herself hearing voices she can't explain and speaking with things that should not be talking back to her, all while her neighbours' passive aggression begins to morph into something far more threatening. Though Steve urges her this is all in her head, Alice suspects something is very, very wrong, and that her creation story holds the key to her, and Dawn's, survival... She just has to finish it before it's too late...