A retrospective of a sculptor by a gallery curator complete with stroppy teenage daughter and rocky marriage - check.
Reminiscence of times at art school and flatmates, affairs and betrayals - check.
Odd woman claiming to have ownership rights in one of the sculptor’s works - check.
Could not engage with any of the personae or their sentiments. The end left me shrugging my shoulders, none the wiser.

I'm always intrigued by the myriad of stories that stem from writers imaginations. Where does the inspiration come from? The Art of Falling is one of those stories that amazes for its originality. Nessa is working on a posthumous collection of Robert Locke's work, Locke being a famous sculptor. She is also trying to rebuild her marriage to Phillip after his affair, and protect her teenage daughter, Jennifer, from the fallout.

When Melanie Doerr appears at a talk about Locke, Nessa has little idea of the impact she is to have. Melanie is demanding recognition for Locke's famous piece known as the Chalk Sculpture. Writing her off as a deluded old lady, Nessa is exasperated by her dogged insistence. But over time, she begins to have doubts and starts to believe Melanie may be telling the truth.

Add to that, a face from the past which brings up trauma and shame for Nessa.

Will the truth ever really be exposed? Can Nessa and her family make a fresh start and lay the past to rest?

For me, this was a bit of a slow burner, but I did feel more invested as the story developed and it was an enjoyable read.

This story has it all, the characters the threads the characters twist and weave. If you
I’ve set you will be in your element with this story.

With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

Nessa is an art historian in her forties, with a sixteen year old daughter, Jennifer, and a husband who has just been caught out in an affair with Jennifer’s best friend’s dumpy mother. She goes through the motions of her life, escaping the awkwardness the affair has caused by immersing herself in her work curating the purchase and transfer to her gallery of the studio and star sculpture of the recently deceased artist Robert Locke. The sale is being managed by Locke’s daughter and widow, but the smooth progress of the deal is interrupted by the appearance of the seemingly delusional Melanie Doerr, who appears at a lecture and claims involvement in the production of the Chalk Sculpture.

Add to this a chance encounter with an old flatmate which sparks a reunion with a former lover and the grown-up son of another friend who committed suicide, and the scene is set for a rapid unravelling of the various threads of Nessa’s life.

A theme that runs through this book is that of what constitutes the truth, and the storyline dealing with the Chalk Sculpture’s provenance is well done, shaking Nessa’s confidence in her scholarship and knowledge of Locke’s life and work. This is a story of multiple lies, omissions, half-truths and betrayals, and their consequences.

Other readers have found Nessa unlikeable but I wouldn’t go that far. The problem, I think, is that she remains something of a cipher throughout. We see her actions, but are not really privy to her thoughts and motivations so it is hard to form a bond with her. She seems very self-sufficient as her world implodes around her, with only occasional indications that she is under a huge strain. But then, that is how many women deal with crises, presenting an unflappable face to the world while quietly falling apart inside.

In the end, I thought this book was no better than average, because it kept reminding me of other stories I’ve read with similar themes - Patrick Gale’s Notes From An Exhibition kept springing to mind. It also felt a bit longer than it needed to be, with some threads feeling as though they were inserted in order to provoke a crisis and a resolution. It’s worth a read, and is not a difficult one, but it’s not one I will be recommending as stand-out.

Nessa McCormack is recovering from her husbands affair, whilst working as an art curator about to display the late Robert Lockes The Chalk Sculpture and raising a teenage daughter. And just as her exhibition is about ready along comes an eccentric Melanie Doerr to claim the Sculpture is hers.
The Art of Falling is a well written, windy story of family dramas and how secrets never do stay hidden.
The story follows Nessa through her home, work and social circle and all the characters blend really well into the storyline and where it is going. The characters are all well written, with no one seeming out of place.
Whilst I found the first couple of chapters hard to get into, I sped through the rest of the book.
I love how Nessa is facing the truths and secrets from her past while trying to uncover the truth and secrets behind the sculpture and it’s creator. It’s a very cleverly written storyline that comes together perfectly.
I really love the ending. It fits the tone of the book, not too “happy” and not too poignant. A just ending for everyone.

I was very pleased to be able to read this ahead of its release date. I always find McLaughlin's writing v readable and this did not disappoint!

nessa is an art curator with a temperamental teenage daughter and a husband who has cheated. She is trying with all her might to uphold a positive external image and maintain control over her life, but this begins to unravel when someone challenges the art she has studied and loved and the son of her dead best friend comes back to ask questions about his mother's suicide.

This was really interestingly done. nessa herself is thoroughly unlikeable as a character which always makes for a more interesting read in my opinion. However, the rest of the characters fell a bit flat for me, as they were pretty obviously used as convenient plot devices rather than fleshed out characters. I enjoyed the friction between nessa as she sees herself and nessa as others see her, which we catch glimpses of through dialogue and the way others act around her.

Filled with drama, emotion and a quick pace, I found it hard it put this book down. would definitely recommend! out on Feb 4th.

***1/2

As Nessa tries to rebuild her life after her husband has an affair, will things be plain sailing or will more people come into her life causing it to become more difficult?

This is a very well written book and I enjoyed the general storyline. I did find that it was quite a slow story, there is lots of history in this book, both about the artist and of the characters.
I didn’t find the characters particularly likeable and because of this found it hard to really get into the story.
Some parts were quite predictable and after quite lengthy discussions on some issues in the book, the end seemed to summarise quite quickly and everything was sorted and concluded.
I would read other material from this author as I felt she developed the characters well even though they weren’t the most popular people in my opinion!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and most importantly the author, for the chance to read this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Nessa McCormack works at an art gallery, where she is collating the work of Robert Locke. The story centres around one of his works, 'the chalk sculpture..' His wife Eleanor and daughter, Loretta are happy to help with her research until Melanie appears fighting to be recognised for her part in the creation of the sculpture.

Meanwhile, Nessa has family problems of her own and is dealing with marriage counselling and a typical teenage daughter.

There's an additional thread from Nessa's past which brings lots of new characters into the m

I thought this was a well structured book with an interesting premise. The author does a great job of portraying Nessa as a strong and interesting woman. The relationship between Nessa and Jennifer is difficult and there also seem to be untold secrets in the Locke family. One of the secondary characters, Luke has many questions about his late mother.

Essentially it was an effective family suspense drama which I thoroughly enjoyed and I thank netgalley for the advance copy.

Danielle McLaughlin’s Dinosaurs on Other Planets was an exceptionally good collection of short stories. Therefore, my expectations were very high for her first novel, The Art of Falling.

It has two main strands impacting on narrator Nessa - infidelities and “ownership” of artistic expression. The infidelities turn out to be much more complex than a fling between Nessa’s husband and the mother of their daughter’s best friend. Though varied in time and place, they all serve as keys to unlock an interesting narrative of Nessa’s increasingly self-aware, yet often guilt-ridden, approach to her circumstances.

She works for an art gallery and this leads to the art and appropriation issues as Nessa is organising an exhibition of the work of a famous dead sculptor and must navigate the sensitivities of the sculptor’s wife and daughter, a task made even more complex when an exotic former lover of the sculptor appears and claims to be the main creator of a stand-out piece. There is lots to chew on in this arc regarding the nature of art and the failure to recognise the contribution of female collaborators but expositions can be a little clunky.

Like Kevin Barry and Mary Costello, the novel does not have the same level of engagement and wonder as the short stories, but this is a very good debut novel and the final third is particularly potent.

I was kindly provided with a copy of this book for review from John Murray Press via NetGalley

A domestic drama infused with art and the legacy left behind by powerful and influential men, this is an enjoyable book and one that I found a quick and easy read. The story revolves around art curator Nessa, and the legacy of a sculpture that may or may not have been created by someone other than the famous artist she has been studying for much of her career. The drama of who actually created the work is interestingly told, and asks the reader questions about intellectual ownership and patriarchy in the art world.
The more domestic elements of the story come when Nessa is dealing with the fallout of her husband’s affair, and the arrival of her friend’s ex-husband with whom she has more than a little bit of history.
The story is pacy and not overlong, and the characters are well drawn and believable. The Cork setting is mentioned a few times but I didn’t feel that the landscape played much of a role in the story - the themes are universal and could have been played out in any setting.

A good book, and one I’d recommend if you’re after an easy read to cosy up with.

I was eager to request "The Art of Falling" by Danielle McLaughlin as I had only heard brilliant things about her short story collection, "Dinosaurs on Other Planets" and had high expectations for her first novel. While I can't say it ended up being a new favourite novel for me, or that I completely fell in love with it, I was still left with the impression that McLaughlin is a strong assured writer and one I would look out for in future.

When the novel begins, Nessa has been called in to meet her daughter Jennifer's teacher. Jennifer has been bullying her former best friend and acting out in class, and though Nessa won't admit why, she knows it is because her husband had recently been found out to have had an affair with the mother of Jennifer's friend, causing a lot of tension between both families. Nessa is rattled and can't understand why Jennifer is causing so much trouble for her, and not the father who would seem to be the guilty party. As well as this trouble at home, Nessa's professional life, which seems to be going well with an immenent launch of an exhibition she has curated, until a strange woman called Melanie shows up at the gallery claiming to be the artist behind the clay sculpture in question. Nessa is firm in the belief that it was created soley by the late local artist Robert Locke, and won't let Melanie meet with Locke's family, who are already cagey with details about the project and his life. A second stranger appears to disrupt Nessa's life in the form of her late best friend Amy's son, who wants to learn more about his mother, who took her life shortly after a fight with Nessa many years ago. Nessa's relationship to the boy's father also causes trouble when both meet her husband and daughter, and soon she is juggling her own secrets and Locke's, and her careful sense of control slips.

As the book goes on, we see more and more that the facade that Nessa presents hides a more complicated character than we might think. We see her in a new light through the opinion of old friends, her slowly revealing her own transgressions and her refusal to entertain an outside point of view of the subject she has been devoted to professionally for years.

While I didn't find the plot entirely surprising or engrossing, that wasn't really the point for me as I was still impressed with how McLaughlin had me thinking one thing about her main character for so long, before slowly showing who she had been all along. I enjoy when a writer lets you make up your mind about who the characters really are, and I think it's a sign of someone really accomplished and confident in their work that they can do this.

There is no denying Danielle McLaughlin's beautiful writing skills, and the construction of her novel is good enough to have me read it to the end, although I wasn't much convinced by the plot. Maybe it is a question of balance: while I found the storylines about artist Robert Locke as well as about Nessa's past interesting, I found the rest much less so. There is something rather boringly middle-class about Nessa's adult life which very much dampens the strength that the novel could have had otherwise.

The Art of Falling begins with a mother at a parent teacher meeting and it is quickly revealed that her marriage is recovering from her husbands affair which in turn is affecting her daughter. But this isn’t just a story of a frail marriage. This is about Nessa, the wife and mother, and her limitations, in particular her need to deny the past. This unfolds in her professional and personal life as she becomes involved with a controversy about the rightful owner and creator of a famous sculpture and attempts to help a young adult connect with his dead mother.

This novel is a slow burn as the past is unravelled and yet it did then feel a little rushed at the end and a little too neat tying up loose ends. I found it a frustrating and challenging read as the characters are hard to understand in their choices and their unwillingness to reveal truths. Nessa is certainly not a likeable character (and her husband definitely not) although I did sympathise with her as she was being drawn in to others drama. I enjoyed it though as although it was frustrating Danielle McLaughlin does draw you in and gives her characters motivation and reason for their behaviour. I would recommend this for those who like their characters complicated and challenging.

A slow burner!

I really don’t enjoy giving a bad review, but ‘The Art Of Falling’ was certainly a slow burner for me. Although I noticed that some reviewers were awarding four and five stars, I noticed even one and two-star reviews, showing the widest range of people’s opinions.

While there is a plethora of exciting new literature out there, which are real page-turners and you become immersed in the plot, sadly this didn’t happen for me.


After finding out about Nessa’s difficult marriage, I was waiting to discover more. Then we learn about Robert Locke and his sculptures, and the plot literally dragged. And unfortunately, I struggled to carry on.

Galadriel.

Elite Reviewing Group received a copy of this book to review.

I was sent a copy of The Art of Falling by Danielle McLaughlin to read and review by NetGalley. An enjoyable read with believable characters and a good sense of place. I really enjoyed the foray into the artworld and the convoluted history of the artist that was central to the plot. I wouldn’t say that it was a compelling read as such, hence the 4 stars, but it did give a good insight into human behaviour: secrecy and betrayal and the guilt that goes hand in hand along with that.

Nessa is struggling with a marriage crisis. Her husband has had an affair and now they are trying to heal the wounds. Her daughter Jennifer is at school with the daughter of the husbands ex lover. And so many relationships are rocked by this everyday but deeply painful experience.

Nessa works with an Art Gallery which is acquiring the works of a sculptor Robert Locke. She is obsessed with both the artist and one particular work, The Chalk Sculpture. Questions arise about who actually owns this work, and even who created it.

Those are the two story strands in this book. And the themes? Are things how they seem? Can people be trusted? Can we trust ourselves? What is authenticity and how do we recognise it?

The book starts by quoting the Latin motto - Esse Quam Videre which means To be, rather than to seem.
And this is the journey that the book takes us on but although I find it an interesting theme I ended feeling disappointed. I wasn't very drawn to any of the characters - Nessa is a typical middle class woman who feels entitled to her place in society and who strongly believes in 'less said soonest mended'.

Her husband is not fully drawn out but somehow we don't blame him for dallying with the rounded, warm Mrs Wilson.

The artist's family have a default setting of denial and so are totally unwilling to seek the truth.

Perhaps only the young characters are still unsullied by lies and snobbery. Jennifer, Mandy Wilson and even the impulsive youth Luke are more interesting than all the rest.

I read the book, mildly enjoyed it but it may be a book that will be hard to recall once the last page has been turned. A good holiday read perhaps and there is nothing wrong with that!

I wasn’t that keen on this book, whether it’s because I had problems concentrating after hearing the news that Christmas was cancelled because of the virus or the story just didn’t grab me I’m not sure. I found it a little underwhelming and struggled to finish it. But, I plowed on and got it done. Maybe in happier times I might have appreciated it more but, who knows. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I have given this book 3 stars because although it is well written I did not like any of the characters and found it hard in places to keep reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.

Danielle McLaughlin writes an assured multilayered family drama and examination of art, featuring art historian and curator of Elmes Art Gallery in Cork, Nessa McCormack, currently project manager of the gallery's acquisition of artist Robert Locke's The Chalk Sculpture, known locally as Venus at the Hotel Negresco, having acquired a reputation as a fertility symbol. It is Nessa's job to facilitate the sculpture's move from the home of his elderly widow, Eleanor, and his daughter, Loretta, whilst gleaning as much information as possible on the work, art inspired by Eleanor, and on Locke himself through interviews. Nessa is in the process of rebuilding her marriage to architect, Philip, handsome, ambitious, careless of the family finances and security, and who betrayed Nessa with an affair with their teen daughter, Jennifer's best friend's mother, Cora Wilson, an affair that has repercussions on Jennifer.

This is story of truth, lies, secrets and deception as the past comes back to haunt both Nessa and the official history of the Chalk Sculpture promoted by Eleanor, Loretta and Nessa, and the tendency of society to grant godlike status to artists, men such as Locke, when in reality they are little more than flawed individuals, much like anyone else. It examines the women who maintain the fiction that so often lies behind the facade of great artists, and who even give up their own talents to support them. Nessa's life begins to fall apart when an older woman, Melanie Doerr, insists that she was responsible for a major part of the Chalk Sculpture and that it belongs to her, but that she will settle for being recognised with her name put up alongside that of Locke. Nessa who feels she knows Locke's life and work intimately, she had written a thesis on him at university, has never come across Melanie and dismisses her as an eccentric and strange woman. However, Melanie has a will of iron and refuses to go away.

Simultaneously, Luke Harkin, the son of Nessa's dead best friend, Amy, enters her life, raising issues of her own past infidelities and risible behaviour to friends like Katherine Ferriter, being exposed. McLaughlin explores the fascinating and pivotal connections between art, women, the men they love, truth, secrets, family and society, as lives and worlds crumble as secrets from the past emerge into the light of the present. This is a beautifully written, complex, character driven novel that I loved being immersed in, it is entertaining, intense, a compulsive examination of art, artists, family, society, and human frailties. Many thanks to John Murray Press for an ARC.

I couldn't put this book down. In many ways, the author is exploring shame, loss, resentment, jealousy, bonds and everything that makes us human. The characters are all flawed, but their decisions are based on their life experience. I found the novel touching, delicate and raw, and I find myself thinking of it weeks after I've finished reading it. The author has a real sensitivity to identify underlying emotions at any given time and deliver them naturally in the narrative.

I saw in a few reviews people put off by the 'art language', and I was expecting to be lost when the description arrived but it never happens. It's never about the art criticism; it is about the meaning of the sculpture, related to our characters' different connections with it. It acts as a unifying theme, and the author uses it to develop ideas.