[In the following review, Ver Steeg is impressed with Ridgway's creative ability to establish setting and tone, but is critical of his characterization mechanics—describing them as "stilted" and contrived in some areas.]

Grace Quinn, an Englishwoman isolated by geography, nationality, and tragic circumstance in rural Ireland nearly all her life, has been brutalized by her husband since the accidental death of one child and the flight of another to Dublin after he revealed his homosexuality. Early in the novel, Grace kills her husband and travels to Dublin, but in the end, she is betrayed by a son whose motives are as flawed and mysterious as her own. Ridgway evokes place and mood beautifully, with shimmering description, and the reader feels Grace's "long falling." Some of the dialogue is stilted, though, and the character Mrs. Talbot, who appears near the end to help Grace hide, seems more a plot device than a denizen of the universe Ridgway has made. On the whole, however, this is a domestic tragedy featuring a firm sense of place and an expertly drawn portrait of alienation and loss.