The Shock of the Fall

This first novel by a former mental health nurse is gripping, clever and deeply empathic. It tells the story of Matt Homes's decent into mental illness, following the accidental death of his brother Simon. Matt is a complex character, struggling with his own selfishness and internal conflicts, but we are taken so fully inside his world that it is hard not to warm to him and care deeply about his suffering. This book takes you into a world few of us understand, often not even those living inside it, and does so with honesty, humour and pathos. It's a real page turner, but one which will linger with you long after you stay up all nght reading it. It has scooped plenty of praise and awards and rightly so. It now deserves a place in the hall of fame that is the Empathy Library.