Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and the author for the gifted ebook to write my honest review
What happened to you, Susie, my love? What happened to you that night?
Everyone tells me I should let it be. The inquest is over. The funeral held. And life goes on.
But not for me.
When you were a baby, I saw you as a fragile chick. A nestling who might stop breathing if I looked away for too long. This is the world of new motherhood.
And as you grew, we were still concentric circles. You were the heart of me. Focal. Vital. I could not imagine a life without you. And little did I know, my fears were not so irrational after all. You were going to leave me too soon.
Because you are gone, now. I have to remind myself sometimes.
My name is Catherine Keely. My daughter fell from a balcony while on holiday with friends.
She died last year.
So, tell me: what would you do if you thought your daughter’s death wasn’t an accident? What would you do if you were me?
Told through ten interwoven narratives of the same night, each shaped by a different relationship with Susie, And Then She Fell explores the lies we tell ourselves and the silences we keep – and how every story holds a secret.
Purchase Links
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Then-She-Fell-Stories-Truth-ebook/dp/B0BDVRPJKZ/
https://www.amazon.com/Then-She-Fell-Stories-Truth-ebook/dp/B0BDVRPJKZ/
📚 My Review 📚
This is a book that took me a while to put into words how it made me feel. Told in the first person by Catherine, a woman whose adult daughter, Susie, died at 26 while on holiday with her boyfriend and friends. She can’t accept that Susie’s death was accidental. She feels there is more to it, even with the official outcome.
An emotional journey of a mother who can’t come to terms with her daughter’s death. We see her stay at the hotel where Susie died, and she spends a lot of time with Susie’s boyfriend and best friend.
In doing this, she learns of Susie and her life as a girlfriend and friend. Daughters and mothers have a special relationship, but mothers do not need to know everything. Catherine learns things that shock her and make her question things she never considered before.
As Catherine peels away the layers of her daughter’s life, the reader is given different possibilities of what could have happened to Susie. This kept me turning the pages; the suspense of not actually knowing what happened gave this story a unique and refreshing feel.
As a parent with adult children, my heart broke for Catherine as I read. Just the thought of going through what she had made me cold. I did find I had to take a break from reading while I processed the heartbreak.
A very deep and emotion-baring story. I just managed to keep it together to ensure I could read it without pouring my heart out too!
Author Bio
Dreena Collins is a multi-genre author. Her short fiction has been listed and placed in numerous writing competitions, such as The Bridport Prize and the Bath Flash Fiction Award. She is the author of a suspense novel, And Then She Fell, and a historical fiction, inspired by the true story of The Guernsey Martyrs (Perotine).
As Jane Harvey, Dreena writes commercially successful, feel-good fiction: The Hummingbird House series. Books one and two of the series both won the Eyelands International Awards, Published Novel of the Year (2021 and 2022).
She lives in Jersey with her spouse, son, and a grumpy white dog, where she also works as the Deputy CEO for a charity.
Social Media Links
Facebook https://facebook.com/dreenawriting
Instagram https://Instagram.com/dreenawriting
@dreenawriting.co.uk
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 