The Fall by Penelope Curtis
The Fall traces three paths taken through one small village in Lincolnshire – by Isaac Newton, who received his first schooling there in the mid-17th century; by the Rev. Charles Hudson, who was vicar in the 1860s; and by the actor David Niven, who visited his mother-in-law there in the 1940s. Each is intent on his own preoccupations - on understanding the physical world, on conquering the Matterhorn, on conquering women - but there is a thread which binds them. An insignificant village becomes the unwitting centre of life-changing events and inevitable tragedy. Told from the margins - through the experience of a questioning child, and of wives and mothers who live as helpmeets to their men - The Fall is an act of vivid observation and reclamation.
‘It is a rare pleasure to read such beautifully clear prose, with its attractively poignant mixture of sadness and calm’ - Gavin Bryars
‘Rich and spare, idiosyncratic yet full of big currents of life and history . . . The times feel simultaneous, all here at once on the surface of the present, as well as reaching and echoing across centuries. Young Isaac will live in my mind – wandering about planning his sundial – but the whole works as a sort of astronomical clock with its moving parts aligning in different ways.’ - Alexandra Harris
Penelope Curtis is a specialist in modern and contemporary sculpture who has directed the Henry Moore Institute, Tate Britain and the Gulbenkian. Since leaving Lisbon in 2021 she has focused on writing fiction, publishing After Nora in 2024, followed by two further novels in 2026.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781919473802 |
| Title | The Fall |
| Author | Penelope Curtis |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | CB Editions |
| Year published | 2026-09-17 |
| Number of pages | 134 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |