The Long Falling by Keith Ridgway
Grace Quinn is an Englishwoman who has lived in rural Ireland all her adult life but is still a stranger. Haunted by the death of one son, for which her brutal husband blames her, and by the absence of another, Martin, Grace makes a decision which she hopes will alter everything. It breaks her world into pieces, and leads her into another - the city, Martin's world. The nightmare which follows draws Grace towards a place less sure, slowly filling her with hope and dread. A brilliant portrayal of of a woman on the edge, a touching portrait of a mother and son, an examination of the nature of longing and belonging, notions of foreignness and what constitutes being a foreigner, The Long Falling is a powerful and haunting novel.