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Falling Short

On sale

6th June 2019

Price: £8.99

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Selected: Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781473669611

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‘Funny, engaging and beautifully written’ M. L. Stedman

Sometimes getting it wrong is the only way to get it right . . .

Frances Pilgrim’s father went missing when she was five, and ever since all sorts of things have been going astray: car keys, promotions, a series of underwhelming and unsuitable boyfriends . . . Now here she is, thirty-bloody-nine, teaching Shakespeare to rowdy sixth formers and still losing things.

But she has a much more pressing problem. Her mother, whose odd behaviour Frances has long put down to eccentricity, is slowly yielding to Alzheimer’s, leaving Frances with some disturbing questions about her father’s disappearance, and the family history she’s always believed in. Frances could really do with someone to talk to. Ideally Jackson: fellow teacher, dedicated hedonist, erstwhile best friend. Only they haven’t spoken since that night last summer when things got complicated . . .

As the new school year begins, and her mother’s behaviour becomes more and more erratic, Frances realises that she might just have a chance to find something for once. But will it be what she’s looking for?

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Reviews

Jess Kidd
A remarkable book: warm, moving and very funny
M. L. Stedman
Taking up the mantle of acute, humane observation from Muriel Spark, Falling Short is funny, engaging and beautifully written. A really refreshing read