The Fall

by Lori Durham Stafford

As a lonely little girl growing up in England, Gillian Owen longed for one thing: a place to belong. She found that place in the arms of her husband Christopher and in her two young sons, Robin and Winston. But when Robin chooses to disobey his father and construct a tree house in the woods behind the family home, “It will be like having our own little flat, Win,” he doesn’t take into account Winnie’s paralyzing fear of heights. Who would have thought that this one small act of rebellion would lead to tragedy, tipping Gillian’s beautifully constructed world on its axis, leaving her, Christopher, and Winnie tumbling downward in a seemingly never-ending spiral of grief and guilt? Will their love for each other be enough to pull them back from the brink?
The Fall is a collection of eleven linked short stories that provide glimpses into the life of one family during times of dizzying joy as well as devastating heartbreak. "I close my eyes and sigh slowly, my breath uncoiling from somewhere high in my forehead. I never used to think of myself as a victim. I was once considered by many, as well as myself, to be blessed, or for those less religious . . . lucky. Yes, divine approval seemed to be shining on me through the faces of my two beautiful sons, Robin and Winston, my precious husband Christopher. For me, it was never a case of not knowing what I had until it was lost. Oh, I knew. I knew exactly, and each night when I’d tiptoe into my boys' rooms to observe the deepest part of their slumber, when I’d press my cheek to the tops of their heads and watch the rise and fall of their chests, I’d breathe quiet prayers of thanks. I knew what I had, and now I know all too painfully well, what I’ve lost." —from Tangled

150 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 27, 2016

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fall by Lori Durham Stafford is a beautiful collection of eleven short stories revealing glimpses of pivotal moments in the life of the main character and narrator, Gillian Owen, and her tightly knit family. We first meet Gillian as a happy young mother of two little boys visiting her hypochondriac mother-in-law in the humorous and poignant “Soon Enough.” We go with her as she snoops through her enigmatic brother-in-law’s flat and gains startling insights into the heart of this outwardly stoic man in “The Key.” But it’s the third story, “The Night After Christmas,” that pulls the reader into the aftermath of a tragedy that ravages each member of the Owen family and reverberates through the rest of the collection, especially in the titular story, “The Fall,” but also in “Tangled,” “For Dear Life,” and “Broken.” Through these and the other stories, we see a family in crisis--parents coping with a devastating loss, a little boy plunging into a waking nightmare of grief and guilt, a brother-in-law dealing with his own past heartaches—but it is how they emerge from this crisis that gives this collection its heart. The strength of familial love, especially the love of a mother for her children, is perhaps best depicted in the final story, “Gifts,” narrated not by Gillian as are the other ten, but by her younger son, the one so emotionally damaged as a child, now an adult beginning to understand just who his mother really is and how much she sacrificed for him.

I absolutely love these stories and these characters. After finishing “Gifts,” I went back and reread the others to revisit the beginning of the journey on which these characters took me. The author has the ability to make you chuckle in one paragraph and to make you tear up in the next. It is also refreshing to read about a family that is not torn apart by tragedy--stretched to its limits at times--but remaining intact. I was also excited to find another story about the Owens free on Lori Durham Stafford’s blog as mentioned in the About the Author section of the book. I recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys clean, well-written, touching stories about realistic characters and their relationships with one another. I look forward to reading more by this talented new author.
Lori Durham Stafford

[Aaron Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully written book that inspires even through tragedy. Lori wonderfully created these stories and places the reader within them so that you feel they could have easily come from your own childhood memories. She constructs such inspired scenes that make you feel you are experiencing the emotions and memories with the characters all over again. Can't wait until Lori's next work is complete!