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The Fall: A Novel Paperback – February 9, 2004

by Simon Mawer (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 474 ratings
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Rob Ross is driving home when he hears that his childhood friend Jim Matthewson has fallen to his death in a climbing accident. Rob's decision to turn his car around and make the journey to comfort Jim's widow is the beginning of a journey into the past, back to Rob's youth before he made the pivotal choices that now come back to haunt him.

Simon Mawer skillfully unveils the delicate layers of history in the lives of a group of people connected over the years by camaraderie, love, competition, and lust. In the shadow of an old love triangle lies the story of another, and as we follow the characters from London during the Blitz to the mountain ranges of the Alps and back to present-day Wales, Mawer reveals how the agonies of the past impinge upon the present.

This is an intelligent, thought-provoking love story by a brilliant, masterful novelist.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    February 9, 2004
  4. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1.01 x 8.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0316735590
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0316735599
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Sons and mothers, husbands and wives, friends and lovers: in Mawer's masterful hands, none of these relationships are what they seem....A sinuously devastating tale of forbidden love and faithless betrayal. A haunting and mesmerizing novel from an expert storyteller."

About the Author

Simon Mawer was educated at Oxford University and now lives in Rome. His widely praised and award-winning novels include, most recently, The Gospel of Judas and Mendel's Dwarf.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Back Bay Books (February 9, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0316735590
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316735599
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.11 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.01 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 474 ratings

About the author

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Simon Mawer

Simon Mawer

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Educated at Millfield School in Somerset and at Brasenose College, Oxford, I took a degree in biology and worked as a biology teacher for many years. My first novel, Chimera, was published by Hamish Hamilton in 1989, winning the McKitterick Prize for first novels. Mendel's Dwarf (1997), reached the last ten of the Booker Prize and was a New York Times "Book to Remember" for 1998. The Gospel of Judas, The Fall (winner of the 2003 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature) and Swimming to Ithaca followed. In 2009 The Glass Room, my tenth book and eighth novel was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. My 2012 book The Girl Who Fell From The Sky and its sequel Tightrope (2015) both feature the female Special Operations Executive agent Marian Sutro. Tightrope won the 2016 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. In 2018, my eleventh novel, Prague Spring, signalled a return to a Czech setting following both Mendel's Dwarf and The Glass Room; in 2022 my latest novel ANCESTRY, an exploration of fiction and personal history, will be published in both the UK and the US.

I am married, with two children and four grandchildren. My wife and I have lived in Italy for over forty years but now split our time between our home near Rome and a house in England.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
474 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

jtex
5.0 out of 5 stars Fall for this well-crafted tale of adventure and romance
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2012
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The way this tale was revealed kept me intrigued all the way through. It began with the death of a character and went back in time to develop an intricate plot and complex characters. The mountain climbing descriptions were so gripping I was not surprised when I later read that the author had been a climber. I am glad he gave up climbing to pursue writing. His character development is riveting and his descriptions of climbing were intensely detailed! This book has everything a reader could want...action, romance, conflict and a beautiful writing style!
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Pjb
4.0 out of 5 stars The Fakl
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2013
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The usually high quality writing,thorough intellectual and interesting for which SM is known. How would the novel be if it were written in chronological order, rather than with SM's carefully constructed timing?
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Roger Brunyate
5.0 out of 5 stars Peak Experience
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2009
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Magnificent! I got to know Simon Mawer's work through his 2009 Man Booker nomination,  THE GLASS ROOM , which slightly disappointed me. But this 2003 novel is a different matter altogether, succeeding simultaneously as a romance, a war novel, an intergenerational saga, and quite the best book about mountain climbing that I have ever read.

The novel opens with a climber falling from an exposed face in Snowdonia, North Wales. It grabbed me immediately, for a personal reason. Virtually every mountain in Britain or the Alps that Mawer describes I have either climbed on or hiked around; there is a situation halfway through the book where one climber freezes on a difficult pitch and his second has to take over the lead; I have been in precisely the same situation, on what may well be the very same climb. My associations are of course irrelevant to the average reader, but they convince me that Mawer knows his stuff. Because I recognize the meticulous detail with which he describes the act of climbing itself, because I once knew the mixture of exhilaration and terror that he conjures as the lure of this dangerous sport, I trust him totally when he goes places where I would never dare. For example, the terrifying off-season ascent of the North Wall of the Eiger which forms the high point of the book (yet without any of the melodramatic excess found, say, in a book like the once-popular  EIGER SANCTION  by Trevanian). I am also convinced that Mawer can draw non-climbing readers just as effectively into his spell; good writers who have true knowledge of their material can captivate anyone.

The falling climber is Jim Matthewson, by then almost a household name in Britain. Robert Dewar, his former climbing partner, long since retired, drives to Wales to offer condolences to Matthewson's widow and his mother. From there, we are drawn backwards into two sets of relationships: one concerns Jim and Robert as young men, and their friendships with the women they eventually marry; the other focuses on their respective mothers, both of whom knew Jim's father, Guy, another famous mountaineer in his day. The mothers' story takes us back to 1940, and the chapters set in the London Blitz are as fine as Sara Waters'  THE NIGHT WATCH , another magnificent romance that unfolds backwards in time. Mawer's gift for capturing the flavor of those wartime passions and his understanding of how the actions of one generation can affect the lives of the next put me in mind of another favorite author, Penelope Lively, in such books as  MOON TIGER  and  CONSEQUENCES . I intend these comparisons as high praise.

THE GLASS ROOM traced the history of a major icon of European architecture through some of the most tumultuous decades of the last century, but it suffered from too much reliance on sex as punctuation for the unfolding story. For a while, I feared that Mawer might do this here too. But then I realized that, with the emphasis on mountaineering, he doesn't need to; the various climbs take their place as the perfect articulating moments in the drama -- intense, visceral things that (unlike sex) can be described objectively without losing the deep emotional connections that run through them. Physical love plays a part in this story too, but it is always central to the development of the characters, and never a titillation. THE FALL is a tighter, more controlled novel than THE GLASS ROOM; by setting his sights on a lower peak, Mawer succeeds in climbing even higher.
5 people found this helpful
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Regards,Joe
5.0 out of 5 stars As Good as it gets
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2009
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I do not write long reviews. I am 82 years of age and try to read at least 1 book a week and have done so most of my life. Everything from good Histories to Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Balzac, to the great mysteries of Hammett, Chandler and Michael Connelly.

Put quite simply, The Fall may be the best book I have ever read. I may be a bit carried away as I just finished it last night--in 2 days--and at the moment it is terribly fresh in my mind. They say a good book needs good metaphors--there are some awful ones in so many books that I often wish they were not there at all--but Mr Mawer's are so good I almost filled the book with underlines.

The story is about 2 boys and their parents. There are a number of very intricate loves affairs and criss-crosses, but one way or another they all make sense and keep the reader fascinated. The other big part of the story is about mountain climbing, but don't let that put you off. I think they are crazy, but it surely makes for very exciting reading. To put it squarely, I had never heard of this writer until I read a review of his newest book--not publihed here yet--in the Finanial Times--He is British- and although maybe he isn't the super man that I think, he certainly should be talked about and reviewed more prolifically in the USA
70 people found this helpful
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junkette
4.0 out of 5 stars Cliff-hanging climb and fall
Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2009
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Other comments have summarized this story of friendship, love, and betrayal, with the stunning backdrop of mountain climbing as both metaphor and landscape for the lives of two men, Robert Dewar and Jamie Matthewson. I will just add a few points.

When I finished The Fall, I made a chart to see if the characters' intertwined relationships--sex, marriage, and friendship--were as improbable and excessive as I thought, and, yes, I feel they were. I wasn't offended by these relationships in The Fall, but I think it took away from an otherwise very realistic book. I can't think of a story that better described the anxiety and horror of the London blitz. I was cold, hanging onto bare rock, and inching forward every step of the way with Jamie and Rob on every climb. Yet, as more and more tangled love affairs developed among the characters, I shook my head with disbelief. For this, I'll knock the rating down to four stars. Perhaps, though, this is what made this book unique and kept it from falling into the category of just another thwarted love/adventure story.

I read this on my Kindle, and, again, I found the Kindle's dictionary feature to be very helpful with terminology. In this case, many of the British and Welsh slang words and mountaineering terms were in the dictionary and right at my fingertips for quick reference.

The Fall was on the Amazon recommendation list for me, based on what I had previously read. I have found these lists to be interesting, and they have led me to enjoyable books that I might have otherwise missed, i.e. The Fall.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Celeste
5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Book
Reviewed in France on September 15, 2018
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This is one of the most beautifully written books that I've read for a long time. I've only recently discovered Simon Mawer thanks to a review in The Times. What a find! I'm now working my way through all his books. He writes lyrical prose, his characters are three dimensional and utterly believable. He's a highly intelligent observer of the world and when you close the book the stories stay lingering for a long time. Prague Spring is another wonderful read too. I urge anyone who loves good writing to start reading him now!
One person found this helpful
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Lady Fancifull
5.0 out of 5 stars Falling from grace
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2011
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This is the second Mawer I've read, coming to him late via the wonderful The Glass Room. Though The Fall didn't resonate quite as deeply and quite as long, it nevertheless has continued to pick away at my thoughts. Mawer is a remarkably `clean' writer, neither overindulgent nor oversimplistic in his style. This book starts with the obvious `Fall' of the title - a group of walkers observing a climber fall from a vertical cliff face. This fall is the starting point for the unravelling of a fascination with mountain climbing spanning two generations, and not only echoes a previous mountain fatality of the first generation, and recapitulates other climbing falls, but hints at more biblical `Falls' - a loss of innocence, both sexual and in other relationships. Mawer's central characters fall and fall again, in and out of love (sexual and platonic) into adoration and betrayal, living truths which turn out to be lies, creating interesting resonances - do we become who we are through genetics, or do we become who we are because of who we believe we are. I'm coming to realise that Mawer is a `Russian Doll' of a writer - the initial reading leads the reader to believe he/she is reading one kind of story, with one kind of theme, but Mawer has contained several conundrums and considerations within his telling. The way his book lingers in the mind means other ideas, other layers slowly continue to unfold. Spanning 60 years of climbing, the second world war, the sexually liberal seventies and more The Fall will carefully find footholds and handholds into your mind

On a purely practical level - if you suffer at all from vertigo (I do!) Mawer's masterly descriptions of climbing harsh and inhospitable mountain ranges will leave you feeling sick and swirly, even sitting down!

.....and I've just ordered my third Mawer.
12 people found this helpful
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trevor king
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in France on August 4, 2014
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Interesting read . Ideal holiday book . Armchair climbing at its best . Would recommend to anyone . Thanks .
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Robert E Welborn
5.0 out of 5 stars Feel like you're climbing with them
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2013
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After getting absolutely drawn-in by my first taste of this author's work ( 'The Glass House' - chosen largely at random), i was so hooked that i thought i would see if 'The Fall' was as absorbing - and it didnt disappoint, maybe even written with more energy. The intrigue that gradually unfolded across 3 generations, and ended with a real twist, and the feeling of being there with the climbers on the Eiger, just grabbed me. I am reading it again, maybe more slowly, to pick up the little clues that i missed the first time round. I am also eager to move on to Simon's other early novels before the recent one ('The Girl that fell from the sky'). You wont be disappointed.
4 people found this helpful
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Mrs. D. A. Shires
5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I have read in a while
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 31, 2010
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Having recently read (and loved) the Glass Room, I looked for another book by Simon Mawer to enjoy. I was not disappointed. Simon Mawer tells really good stories and I find I am totally engaged by his characters and really care about what happens to them. I have no idea how he managed to write so brilliantly about climbing but you are totally transported up those mountains. I couldn't put this book down and I have not said that for a while - not since The Glass Room anyway! I highly recommend that you read this book.
3 people found this helpful
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