The Art of Falling

(Paperback)

Available Formats

---

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

WINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES AUDIBLE SHORT STORY AWARD

'A gripping novel and a sharp, entertaining examination of the nature of art and its power to inspire and corrupt' Roddy Doyle

Nessa McCormack's marriage is coming back together again after her husband's affair. She is excited to be in charge of a retrospective art exhibit for one of Ireland's most beloved and enigmatic artists, the late sculptor Robert Locke. But the arrival of two outsiders imperils both her personal and professional worlds: a chance encounter with an old friend threatens to expose a betrayal Nessa thought she had long put behind her, and at work, an odd woman comes forward claiming to be the true creator of Robert Locke's most famous work, The Chalk Sculpture.

As Nessa finds the past intruding on the present, she must decide whether she can continue to live a lie - or whether she's ready to face the consequences once everything is out in the open. In this gripping debut, Danielle McLaughlin reveals profound truths about love, power, and the secrets that rule us.

Reviews

Praise for Dinosaurs on Other Planets - .

This is not a debut in the usual sense; a promise of greater things to come. There is no need to ask what Danielle McLaughlin will do next, she has done it already. This book has arrived. I think it will stay with us for a long time - Anne Enright

Full of such arresting, resonant and precise writing . . . an impressive achievement - Financial Times

Taut with words unsaid and fights unhad, and the endings are all that endings should be - Metro

McLaughlin has a flair for making her stories crystallise around a striking image - Sunday Times

Her near-faultless debut collection . . . deals primarily with psychological alienation, and the desolate upheaval of humans in crisis - Guardian

Author Bio

Danielle McLaughlin is the author of the short story collection Dinosaurs on Other Planets. Her stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Irish Times, the Stinging Fly, and various anthologies. She has won the Windham Campbell Prize, the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, the William Trevor/Elizabeth Bowen International Short Story Competition, the Willesden Short Story Prize, the Merriman Short Story Competition in memory of Maeve Binchy, and the Dromineer Literary Festival short story competition. The Art of Falling is her first novel.