*A BBC 2 BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK*
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2024*
‘Vivid, sensuous ... A subtle tale of loss, loneliness and disconnection’
PAUL LYNCH, IRISH INDEPENDENT
‘Lush, lyrical and cleverly-constructed. A beautiful book’
LOUISE KENNEDY
‘Beautifully written ... An unchained sea-melody of outsiders, pilgrims and castaways’
ANNE ENRIGHT
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Inspired by the true story of a still-unidentified traveller who appeared dead on Rosses Point beach in County Sligo in 2009, Sheila Armstrong's debut novel is haunting, lyrical and darkly suspenseful.
On an isolated beach set against a lonely, windswept coastline, a pale figure sits serenely against a sand dune staring out towards an old shipwreck at the water's edge. All those who see the man in the early morning light notice the same three things: his hands are folded neatly in his lap, his ankles are crossed and there is a faint smile on his face.
No one knows who the dead man is or how he died, but everyone in the nearby village has their theory - a drunk vagrant who stumbled from the cliff, a sailor who fell from one of the countless vessels that drift by daily or perhaps someone that is linked to the ship wrecked on the beach decades before. Told through a chorus of voices in the village, Falling Animals follows the crosshatching threads of their lives - true and imagined, real and surreal, past and present - to unravel the story of one nameless man, alone on a beach.
Elegiac and atmospheric, dark and disquieting, Sheila Armstrong's debut novel marks her arrival as one of the most uniquely gifted writers at work in literary fiction today.
Falling Animals
By Sheila Arm
The haunting story of an unidentified man, told by those who crossed paths with him on the last day of his life, Sheila Armstrong’s debut novel is lyrical and darkly suspenseful
Material available
Rights Sold
Danish, Dutch; Flemish, French
Book Details
Imprint: Bloomsbury Circus | Pub date: May 2023 | Format: 216 x 135mm | Extent: 240 pages |
About the Author
Sheila Armstrong is a writer and editor from the north-west of Ireland. How To Gut A Fish, her first collection of short stories, was shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award and longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. Falling Animals, her debut novel, was chosen for BBC2’s Between The Covers Book Club and shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize.
