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Falling Animals: A BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick

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But still, they feel a tenderness towards him, as if he were a bird caught in their kitchen curtains.

At its heart it has an unexplained death, a man found at the edge of a beach in a small coastal town in North West Ireland and the quest to find out who he was, but it is so much more than that. I had just added this one to my wishlist on the basis of another review, so you’ve now firmly cemented its place there and pushed it up my priority list! On an isolated beach set against a lonely, windswept coastline, a pale figure sits serenely against a sand dune staring out to sea. This haunting novel is told through a series of vignettes, each one told through the perspective of a person who has reason to feel a connection to this man, either his backstory, or his passing contrail through their life. A poignant and immersive read, Falling Animals so deftly pitches you into the head of each character you'll lose yourself in this book.Armstrong has a very powerful voice, an eye for nuance and image that far exceeds many of her contemporaries, and she puts it to good use here.

The body of a man was found on a beach and despite an extensive police investigation, he was never identified.Vaak zijn dit eenzame, stugge mensen waar slechts af en toe een glimpje menselijkheid aan af te lezen is. He's buried months later after a lengthy investigation - but the impact on the community that found him leaves a mark and it's shaped by the major incident that effects their lives. In Falling Animals, Sheila Armstrong imagines a fictional account of this man’s story, told from the points of view of the villagers who came into contact with him in his final days.

There are numerous moments that require contemplation and silence, unfathomable moments when you need to just consider the sheer expertise and clarity of Sheila Armstrong’s words. She is proud of him, fiercely, maddeningly proud; her love throbs beside him at night and he feels the heat of it every morning, even after all these years.

Told through a chorus of voices, Falling Animals follows the crosshatching threads of lives both true and imagined, real and surreal, past and present. Each chapter of the novel then follows a different character that either lives in the town, or has some connection to the dead man or the shipwreck.

Many thanks to the publisher for an advance copy via NetGalley; as always, this is an honest review. Interestingly, though Armstrong uses a real life event to inspire her novel, on June 16th, 2009, the body of a man (later identified as Peter Bergmann) was discovered on a beach in Sligo and, to this day, how he ended up there is shrouded in mystery. As I was reading your review I was reminded of Reservoir 13 so I’m really pleased to hear that it matches that in quality – high praise! The reason for not giving it 5 stars is that I did find some of the descriptions too long and I wish that some of the peoples' lives were a bit more upbeat and positive.The story delves into its history and the enigma of the dead man, peeling back the lives of everybody involved. His hands are folded neatly in his lap, his ankles are crossed and there is a faint smile on his otherwise lifeless face. They work so hard, bringing authors in to talk, getting themselves into schools, running Story Times, all kinds of events, as well of course as extremely popular book groups. Featuring a number of different characters, each chapter is from a different viewpoint as lives intersect like a spider’s web, crossing back and forth, with a staggering attention to detail and an astonishing structure.

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