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Title details for And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott - Available

And Then She Fell

A Novel

by Alicia Elliott
Cheri Maracle
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
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: She’s just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Dawn; her 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 posh Toronto neighborhood. But Alice could not feel like more of an impostor. She isn’t 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 she’s 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 wasn’t enough, strange things start to happen. She finds herself losing bits of time and hearing voices she can’t explain, all while her neighbors’ 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 Dawn’s survival.... She just has to finish it before it’s too late.
Told in Alice’s 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 unpredictable—and surreal—climax.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 3, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593786697
      • File size: 292159 KB
      • Duration: 10:08:39

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 14, 2023
      Elliott (A Mind Spread Out on the Ground) expertly mines the challenges faced by a Mohawk woman as her world threatens to fall apart in this ambitious offering. New mother Alice has moved from the Six Nations reservation to Toronto with her white husband, Steve, and their newborn, Dawn, but now lives with an “inescapable feeling of hopelessness.” As Alice tries to write a “modern retelling of the Haudenosaunee Creation Story” while surrounded by racist neighbors, she feels disconnected from her baby, processes guilt over her mother’s recent death, and worries she’s just a trophy wife as Steve pursues tenure as an anthropologist studying Mohawk culture (“Everything Indigenous seems to have more value when it’s utilized by white folks”). Meanwhile, a voice first heard in childhood through the Disney movie character Pocahontas has begun communicating with Alice once again, as are trees and insects, and she inadvertently discovers a portal to another world. As the reality Alice is clinging to becomes more unstable, she must interpret the creation story for herself to understand the importance of her own life and those of other Mohawk women. This novel is part time travel and part horror, as full of heart as it is bold. Agent: Stephanie Sinclair, CookeMcDermid.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Jenna Clause and Cheri Maracle perform this heartrending horror novel by Mohawk author Alicia Elliot. On the outside, Alice appears to have it all. She lives in a beautiful house in the "nice" part of town with her successful white husband and beautiful baby girl. But when Alice begins to have visions of horrible things happening to her baby and hears the trees sharing their memories with her, she realizes that something is horribly wrong. Clause portrays Alice with an ear for dialogue and a strong sense of rhythm. Clause captures all of the anguish and panic Alice experiences. Maracle portrays the perspective of one of Alice's family members who is desperate to help her with her deteriorating mental health. K.D.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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