The Rain Before it Falls

Description

Deeply moving and compelling, The Rain Before it Falls is the story of three generations of one family riven by tragedy. When Rosamond, a reluctant bearer of family secrets, dies suddenly, a mystery is left for her niece Gill to unravel. Some photograph albums and tapes point towards a blind girl named Imogen whom no one has seen in twenty years. The search for Imogen and the truth of her inheritance becomes a shocking story of mothers and daughters and of how sadness, like a musical refrain, may haunt us down the years. 'Spectacular, heartbreaking, beautifully written. Rosamond's story is one of the most extraordinary and compelling you will ever read. Impossible to put down, I loved every moment of it.' Sunday Express 'A sad, often very moving story of mothers and daughters.' Guardian 'Entirely compelling . . . the plot will keep you rapt . . . reminiscent of Ian McEwan at his most effective.' New Statesman

Jonathan Coe was born in Birmingham in 1961. His novels include Rotters, The Accidental Woman, A Touch of Love, The Dwarves of Death and What a Carve Up!, which won the 1995 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Itranger.The House of Sleep won the Writers' Guild Best Fiction Award for 1997.

Spectacular, heartbreaking, beautifully written. Rosamund's story is one of the most extraordinary and compelling you will ever read. Impossible to put down, I loved every minute of it * Sunday Express * Entirely compelling . . . the plot will keep you rapt . . . reminiscent of Ian McEwan at his most effective * New Statesman * A sad, often very moving story of mothers and daughters * Guardian * A hauntingly melancholy tale of love and loss...a moving exploration of the inheritance of unhappiness, and the devestating consequences it can have for future generations * Daily Mail * Potent and melancholy, like a short, sad song * Guardian * A male writer who can enter such traditionally female territory and aquit himself with such aplomb * Sunday Telegraph *