[In the following review of The Long Falling, Blodgett observes that Ridgway "captures the bleakness and passion of contemporary Ireland."]

A family driven off-kilter by the accidental death of one son and held so by the increasing violence of the father. A country mired in debate about abortion and the rights of 14-year-old rape victims. A journalist too eager for a good story. A young gay man unable to trust. Irish writer Ridgway chillingly evokes the greyness that overtakes the lives of the Quinn family. At the center of the story is Grace Quinn, Irish but raised English and becoming neither, caught in a violent marriage and separated from her sons. The decision to kill her husband in the same way he had killed a young woman—to make him a hit-and-run victim—not only fails to free Grace but spills into the lives of her son Martin, his lover, Henry, their journalist friend Sean, a police officer, and a tender-hearted landlady. Grace's attempt to redeem her life takes place in the midst of Ireland's intense debate over a restraining order on a young pregnant woman. Writing in a clear prose style that never loses its balance, Ridgway captures the bleakness and passion of contemporary Ireland. For all fiction collections.