Book Review: Falling Animals by Sheila Armstrong
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About The Book
The disquieting story of an unidentified man as told by those who crossed paths with him on the last day of his life, Sheila Armstrong’s debut novel is haunting, lyrical and darkly suspenseful.
On an isolated, windswept beach, a pale figure sits serenely against a sand dune staring out to sea. His hands are folded neatly in his lap and there is a faint smile on his otherwise lifeless face. After months of fruitless investigation, the nameless stranger is buried in an unmarked grave, but the mystery of his life and death lingers on, drawing the nearby villagers into its wake.
From strandings to shipwrecks, it is not the first time that strangeness has washed up on their shores. As a chorus of voices come together to unravel the story of one man, alone on a beach, a crosshatched portrait begins to emerge, threaded by lives both true and imagined, real and surreal, past and present.
A BBC2 'Between The Covers' Book Club Pick.
Why We Love It
Inspired by a true event in Sligo, Sheila Armstrong's debut novel about the discovery of a body on an Irish beach takes the form of a series of linked stories, each told by a different character whose life is somehow connected to that of the unknown stranger.
It's an evocative method of story-telling with each fresh voice adding a new piece of the puzzle to the enigma surrounding the unidentified man at the centre of the story, though it should be stressed that this is no murder mystery with a neatly tied-up conclusion at the end of it all.
Instead it's a novel about people, loss and community, about how our lives weave and connect in ways we're not even aware of. So many of the characters in the book suffer from feelings of isolation and solitude, and yet the overriding theme is really one of the interconnectedness of human existence.
Sheila Armstrong's evocative and melancholic writing style, capturing the wildness and solitude of the ocean, adds so much depth and dimension to the story with whole paragraphs so achingly beautiful that you'll find yourself stopping to read them again.
A haunting and heartfelt book that will linger with you long after you've finished reading it.
