Falling is Like Flying

The darkly beautiful novelistic memoir of a childhood spent in the shadow of a domineering, abusive father

This is a story she never wanted to tell, but in the end she had no choice. When her older sister dies at the age of sixty-nine, it brings back a past the author thought she had left behind. Incensed, she delves back into her childhood, recreating the abusive world that she grew up in, ruled over by her tyrannical father, The Minotaur.

In a narrative by turns shockingly dark and strangely beautiful, she retraces her path through the phantasmogorical labyrinth, bringing a tale of silent trauma to a triumphant, raucous conclusion. Falling is Like Flying is an extraordinary novelistic memoir of abuse and resilience, a literary triumph that reminds us what language is capable of.



Manon Uphoff was born in 1962 into a family of thirteen children. She left home at 16, went on to study literary theory, and is now an acclaimed artist and writer whose novels have been shortlisted for numerous prizes. Falling is Like Flying has been a literary phenomenon in the Netherlands, making 32 'Best of 2019' lists, being shortlisted for 4 awards and winning the prestigious Charlotte Köhler Prize. It is the first of Manon's books to be translated into English.