When I read the synopsis for this book last year with its original hardcover release, I was intrigued. Who doesn’t want to learn the story a woman who not only survived a plane crash, but also walked away with barely a scratch. Could this happen? Well, it actually has believe it or not. If you search the internet you will find various incidents where the same general thing has happened–people survived falling out of airplanes (without a parachute).
The Falling Woman is a June 2020 release from Algonquin Books, a May 2021 Paperback release.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links, see disclosures for more detail.
About the Book:
Erin Geraghty is on her way to a survivor’s retreat when she boards her flight. Facing a losing battle with cancer, with diminishing hope of a full recovery, she considers herself essentially dead to her loved ones, resigned to a fate of failed medical interventions and long, painful goodbyes. Then she awakens in a barn still strapped to her seat, the sole survivor of the catastrophic crash of Pointer Airlines Flight 795. Assumed to have died in the crash, she is intent on remaining dead to the world and to her family, to live out her final days in peace. Charlie Radford, a young National Transportation Safety Board investigator, is part of the team sent to determine what caused the crash. When he hears a rumor of a survivor, he assumes it is a hoax, but as word of this “miracle” reaches the media and Congress, Radford is forced to track down “the falling woman.” Can he find Erin and convince her to come forward—and does he have any right to?
My Thoughts:
I gave this book 3.5 stars
This book has a very intriguing premise–a plain crashes, basically exploding midair, but supposedly, a woman survives the crash basically unharmed. This is actually a thing that has happened quite a few times, so it’s not as fantastical as it seems on the surface.
This book is a character study of two people in the midst of this occurrence: Erin, a married mother of two who has been suffering from pancreatic cancer and is on the plane on her way to a cancer patient retreat, she knows she doesn’t have much longer and needs a breather, and Charlie, who works for the NTSB investigating the crash. The two intersect, but not in the way that you might imagine.
I didn’t like Erin throughout this book. I could not relate to her although I could generally understand why she made the decisions she did. This did pull me out of the story because I was just angry with her choices. This would make a good book club choice because there’s a great deal here to discuss: how much are we in charge of our own lives? In the light of a tragedy like this, how much privacy should be expected or deserved?
I read Dear Edward last year and loved it. I connected with it emotionally. This book is similarly themed, yet I never truly connected with it as much as I hoped to. It is definitely a book worth reading and readers searching for a contemplative and engaging story should pick it up.
About the Author:
Richard Farrell is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a former pilot who holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. His work has appeared in Hunger Mountain, upstreet, New Plains Review, Potomac Review, Descant, and elsewhere. Originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, he teaches creative writing at Grossmont College in San Diego, where he lives with his wife and two children. This is his first novel.
