‘Before the Fall’ by Orna Ross

My Review (5 stars out of 5)

In 1995, pregnant Jo Devereux is still living in Ireland. Caught between her relationship with former lover Rory and the desire to return home to San Francisco, Jo battles with the past and its possible impact on her future, as she unravels her family’s possible involvement in the death of Rory’s great-uncle, suffocated in Mucknamore’s notorious sinking sands. Writing her family’s history, she discovers how Granny Peg rescued Nora from a mental institute, only to trigger further problems with the O’Donovans.

Following on from the first book in this trilogy, ‘After the Rising’, the story flips between 1920s and 1990s Ireland, and 1980s San Francisco. The book is beautifully written and draws the reader into a web of history, lies and murder. The characters are all deftly drawn and really come alive off the page, taking us into the heart of their lives and the difficulties of each generation. The dialogue, particularity, is realistic in each setting and gives a real sense of who the characters were.

A superbly written tale that fully engaged me from the first page.

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