There are few things better than reading a book you love and discovering that the author has been around forever. That realisation that you have SO-MUCH-MORE-TO-READ is the best. I can remember reading a Jodie Picoult way back in the day and rushing to the library to get out everything she ever put her hands on which, thankfully, is a lot. As you can imagine after reading Julie Cohen’s ‘Together’ I was excited to find out that Cohen has been around for awhile now and was quite a few books to her name.
I picked up ‘Falling’ because the summary said it was about three women who each have something to hide and after the dark, twisted secret of ‘Together’ I was all on board. The story follows a grandmother, Honor, her daughter-in-law Jo and Jo’s teenage daughter Lydia. Each are at a crossroads in their lives which comes to light when Honor id forced to move in with Jo’s family. She has never liked Jo and since the death of her son and Jo’s husband has had little to do with them.
Cohen flicks between the characters and gives us a glimpse into each of their lives and their secrets. While this is a technique I generally enjoy, in this case it didn’t add anything and the secrets were too predictable. The story of a mother whose kids don’t appreciate her and needs a bit of excitment in her life is done to death, as it the tale of an elderly women who is too stubborn to ask for help and the one about the teenage girl who doesn’t fit in. I will admit that I did appreciate that the focus of Lydia was her hiding her sexuality out of fear of not fitting in, it was different to most books which focus on the teenage girl who loves a boy she can’t have.
This book was easy to read and the characters likable enough, it just didn’t have the same bite as ‘Together.’ I found myself waiting for the big secret but there didn’t seem to be much of one. Everything the characters were hiding was revealed within the first few chapters so there wasn’t much keeping me going. That said it was a nice read for when you want something light and easy to read, I do think if I hadn’t read ‘together’ that this book would have been more enjoyable. Overall three out five stars.
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