... just wow. I am going to be thinking about this book for a long, long time. My first completed title from the 2024 Women's prize longlist, and if the rest of them hold a candle to this one then we are in for a real treat.
Slight spoiler alert in the content warnings - but if you are sensitive to dark themes I recommend looking over them, there is a lot in this book.

Content Warnings

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

And Then She Fell is the story of Alice, a Mohawk woman married to a white man and the mother of a newborn who has recently moved to suburban Toronto. I found Alice’s story to be a rich one, full of many layers, and while I’m not a fan of horror I thought horror elements were used here to excellent effect. The first half of the story appears straightforward. We first meet Alice as a young teen and witness the beginning of her mental health problems, as she sees and hears things that aren’t actually there. It’s clear that intergenerational trauma, misogyny, sexism and the legacy of colonisation plays into this. As an adult her mental health struggles are exacerbated by her move to the city where she feels alienated and unwelcome, encounters micro aggressions as well as more blatant racism, and is also troubled by cultural appropriation - her husband building his career on the back of her culture, gaining knowledge she hasn’t had access to. Add in the tough reality of a new baby and postpartum depression and it’s not a total surprise when she experiences a total psychotic break. Or does she? For at this point the story takes a really interesting turn. I don’t want to give too much away but it definitely left me with lots to think about - particularly the cultural lens through which we view mental illnesses, how something that is viewed as an illness in one culture could be viewed very differently by someone steeped in the knowledge of another culture. I was also left pondering the power of cultural knowledge and understanding, as well as the nature of horror, particularly that which is part of some people’s everyday reality. While aspects of this novel were tough to read - none more so than Alice’s terror at her hallucinations - there were other aspects that were a delight. Chief amongst these was the bonds between the women in Alice’s life. Her aunt, niece and cousin clearly had her back but by the end of the novel we’d seen that the bonds of female solidarity and empowerment ran far deeper and were much more complex. There is also a story within a story - a version of a Haudenosaunee creation story which Alice is attempting to write. There are clear parallels to be made between Alice’s story and that of the Sky Woman. The ending Alice crafted for her was perfect. I’d love to see this book on the shortlist.

Content Warnings

savvylit's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

And Then She Fell is a beautiful horror novel. Yes, beautiful. Elliott describes new motherhood, parental loss, indigenous identity, microaggressions, toxic marriage, and intergenerational hope. Each of these topics is blended to create an incredibly believable and complicated main character in Alice. I was simultaneously devastated and grateful for this book's ending.

Content Warnings