The Shock of the Fall
‘I’ll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce you to my brother. His name’s Simon. I think you’re going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he’ll be dead. And he was never the same after that.’
‘Dark, touching, sweet and funny and beautifully written’
Winner Of
The Costa Book Of The Year
The National Book Award For Popular Fiction
The Betty Trask Prize
The Writers’ Guild Award for Best First Novel
Short Film
‘Dark, touching, sweet and funny and beautifully written’
‘A deeply moving (but also funny) first novel’
‘Ambitious and exquisitely realised, it’s by turns shocking, harrowing and heartrending’
‘A gripping, exhilarating read… dazzlingly rendered’
‘A convincing portrayal of an articulate boy in the grip of a powerful illness, and an absorbing account of a grief undischarged’
‘Astonishingly sure-footed’
‘Utterly convincing… Filer has created a character of real value’
‘A compelling story of grief, madness and loss. Filer has an ear for the dark comedy of life, and Matthew is a charismatic lead character who draws you in even as his world falls apart’
‘At once conversational, confiding and challenging… helps us open our minds to new ways of thinking about mental health, about each other, and about our own selves’