Falling is Like Flying

Henne Vuur, sixteen years older than the narrator and once a substitute mother to her, dies after falling down a flight of stairs, starved and alone, and her death sets the writer's rage alight. Now she must tell what was kept hidden for decades: the childhood of four sisters under the man who was their father or stepfather, a hobby painter and dropout priest-in-training who reigned over the family like a deity. In daylight he taught the girls about art and science; after dark he became a minotaur who came to their beds. Myth, fairy tale, science and books help her find words for a world in which horror passed for normal.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

191 pages in the original

Genres

Family, Autofiction (assigned by AI)

First published

2019 by Querido

Author's age

57 when first published

ISBN

9789021408026 (original)

9781782277033 (Pushkin Press, United Kingdom)

9781782277064 (Pushkin Press, United Kingdom)

More

Wikidata