After abandoning her lucrative banking career, Emma heads out of Manhattan for a quieter life in Westport. She moves into a place that needs her keen interior decorator eye, next door to her landlord, local bartender Dominic. Emma finds herself falling not only for the laidback Dominic but also his young son, Jesse, who has been growing up without a mother. The setting of an Englishwoman in Connecticut immediately makes you realise this is a Jane Green novel (the author is a similar transplant). But for most of the book I didn’t get the feeling this was indeed hers – the story meandered a lot, the conflicts didn’t really build and the emotional punch came very late in the piece. The saving graces were the heart-warming relationship between Emma and young Jesse, and the fact the ending was unexpected (although a hint of what happens at the start might have given it a more cohesive feel, rather than appearing like it was just chucked in to get the book over the finish line). Overall, this one fell a bit flat.
Jane Green's latest novel, Falling, is about finding a home where you least expect it. The summary says: "When Emma Montague left the strict confines of upper-crust British life for New York, she felt sure it would make her happy. Away from her parents and expectations, she felt liberated, throwing herself into Manhattan life replete with a high-paying job, a gorgeous apartment, and a string of successful boyfriends. But the cut-throat world of finance and relentless pursuit of more began to take its toll. This wasn't the life she wanted either.
On the move again, Emma settles in the picturesque waterfront town of Westport, Connecticut, a world apart from both England and Manhattan. It is here that she begins to confront what it is she really wants from her life. With no job, and knowing only one person in town, she channels her passion for creating beautiful spaces into remaking the dilapidated cottage she rents from Dominic, a local handyman who lives next door with his six-year-old son.
Unlike any man Emma has ever known, Dominic is confident, grounded, and committed to being present for his son whose mother fled shortly after he was born. They become friends, and slowly much more, as Emma finds herself feeling at home in a way she never has before.
But just as they start to imagine a life together as a family, fate intervenes in the most shocking of ways. For the first time, Emma has to stay and fight for what she loves, for the truth she has discovered about herself, or risk losing it all." Falling is out in July 2016.