After growing up as the only child of bitterly divorced parents, Mara Foster has finally gained independence and is embarking on a promising career as an artist. But despite her success, she is fragile. Burdened by a host of fears and anxieties, Mara finds it difficult even to leave her house on most days. When Mara meets Hugo, the walls she has built around herself begin to crumble, and as she struggles to find a breakthrough both in her art and in life, she must come to terms with her own dark secrets in order to get a second chance at happiness.
Written in spare, crisp prose and marked by wry humor, Falling Under is a gripping contemporary urban tale of human weakness, friendship and hard-earned redemption. This emotionally resonant story of unexpected love marks the debut of a striking new voice in fiction.
Read Danielle Younge-Ullman's posts on the Penguin Blog.
"Part coming of age, part artistic exploration, part love story, Falling Under is a layered and assured debut. Perhaps it is the playwright in Danielle Younge-Ullman that helped produce such a dramatic and intense first novel. Structurally sophisticated, its straightforward first-person present is paired with a raw and poignant past in second-person."
—Chris Szego, Canadian Bookseller Magazine
"As heartfelt as it is tragic, FALLING UNDER tells the touching story of an artist's childhood crippled by divorce and emotional neglect. A fearless, penetrating debut."
—Tish Cohen, author of Town House
"Danielle Younge-Ullman's novel reminds one of Mary Gaitskill's best—sleek, erotic, wry and poignant."
—Karen Karbo, author of How to Hepburn: Lessons in Living from Kate the Great
"A finely-wrought, edgy debut... Younge-Ullman is the best kind of new author—enormously talented and utterly unafraid."
—Kristy Kiernan, author of Catching Genius
"Heartwrenching and provocative all at once. Fans of Stephen Elliott and A.M. Holmes will enjoy this raw, edgy debut."
—Martha O'Connor, author of The Bitch Posse
"Falling Under is a wild ride; Danielle Younge-Ullman writes about human connections and with thrilling energy, honesty and fury."
—Ellen Sussman, editor of Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex
"Danielle Younge-Ullman's debut novel is captivating, cutting edge, and not easily forgotten."
—Eileen Cook, author of Unpredictable
"If there's one book you read this year, make it Falling Under. Brimming with raw emotion and intensity and peppered with damaged souls you want so much to root for, it's the kind of novel that makes a writer wish she'd written it."
—Jenny Gardiner, author of Sleeping With Ward Cleaver
"Compelling story of a young woman struggling to surface, toward sanity and love. Sounds heavy but there's a lot of laughter and quirky humor. Particularly good on ongoing warfare between separated parents, and what it's like trying to manage an alcoholic parent. Exceptionally good on the way a young woman might use her sexuality as the best bargaining tool she's got to negotiate her way to independence and adulthood—and the toll that exerts on her inner life and sense of self."
—Kate Veitch, www.goodreads.com (4 of 5 stars)
