Fiona Vigo Marshall Fairlight Books, 2019, PB, 304pp, £8.99, 978-1912054220
Find Me Falling is a novel set on Waste Island, a fictional seaside resort off the coast of England. The story revolves around a love affair between Dominic, a road sweeper, and Bonnie, a 30-something pianist from London, who has newly arrived on the island. Both are married, and both have more going on than first meets the eye. Dominic has epilepsy, poorly controlled in part because of his lack of compliance with medication, and Bonnie is traumatised after the birth of her son almost 4 years ago, and has become reclusive and anhedonic, much to the dismay of her husband Austin.
The prose is descriptive and beautifully written, transporting the reader to a bleak, salty, haunting place, as Bonnie and Dominic, an unlikely couple, become increasingly caught up in each other’s worlds. As the book progresses, it becomes clear that neither are fully living in reality; Dominic’s seizures cause him to lose touch with the world around him, and Bonnie’s mental health worsens, to the point she possibly begins to have auditory hallucinations (or there could be a supernatural explanation). The reader also becomes increasingly unsure about what is real, and what is the result of the neurological and psychological make-up of the pair.
From a GP’s perspective, the book contains interesting descriptions of epilepsy from a patient’s perspective — the loss of career aspirations due to intractable seizures, the role of the neurologist as a malevolent god-like figure, the dismay at an ambulance being called, and the ambivalence about taking medication. The author has previously written non-fiction books on epilepsy, and clearly draws from this knowledge to create the character of Dominic.
Alongside the themes of epilepsy and mental illness, the book also touches on miscarriage, grief, and alcoholism.
Overall, this book is an entrancing, powerful read, which is very well written, and will stay with you; I found myself dreaming about it upon putting it down!
- © British Journal of General Practice 2019
