Review: Stumble and Fall by Amy Rivers

Dealing with the effects of trauma both at a personal and community level, Stumble and Fall by Amy Rivers is a cuttingly honest and raw novel. Through the story of Kate and Tilly, Rivers dissects the emotions and fears that many abused people go through, exacerbated by finding themselves caught in events much bigger than themselves.

Kate and Tilly are sisters who deal with trauma both in their professional and personal lives. While Kate has been assaulted in her own house, Tilly has been the victim of sexual abuse all through her teens, opening a ridge between her and the rest of the world. Tilly is now an expert in working with victims of assault and domestic abuse, and Kate has specialized in the treatment of trauma in her practice as a psychotherapist.

The previous year, Kate uncovered a sex trafficking ring in town, the same one that her sister was involved in, but she didn’t have proof to bring it down. Recovering from the media attention brought by the case, Tilly and Kate have moved and changed jobs – Tilly, now in New Mexico, is slowly relearning to love, and Kate, who has moved into a highly surveilled house, is determined to shed light on the tangle of secrets hidden under the city’s surface. When a scared girl shows up at her new office, she knows she is on the right track to finally convict those responsible.

Delicately and candidly, Rivers guides the reader through difficult issues such as sexual assault and domestic violence, combining her sensitivity as an author with deep analytical research into these difficult topics. In depicting the trust issues, alienation, panic attacks, and nightmares that constantly remind Kate and Tilly of their experiences, Rivers finds a perfect balance between bluntness and tenderness, complexity and simplicity, that makes every development of this novel ring true.

The book is structured as a back-and-forth between Kate and Tilly’s points of view, with alternating chapters told from one sister’s perspective at a time, which effectively enhances their sense of isolation, letting the reader into their struggles. At the same time, they break through their isolation by exposing a system that involves an entire community, showing that Kate and Tilly are not alone in their pain because unfortunately there are many, many more innocent victims who suffer in silence.

In another writer’s hands, the book could come across as insensitive or insistently bleak, but Rivers’ sincere writing perfectly captures the sense of impending doom often shared by victims, while never veering into outright sentimentality or coating the truth. Through the darkness, the characters are able to build strong relationships, manage their traumas, and regain control of their lives, which is as empowering for the reader as it is emotionally harrowing.

A deeply felt and intricate story that will keep the reader engaged until the end, Stumble and Fall is an impactful piece of fiction that grabs the reader through deftly-crafted and sympathetic characters, while exploring vital topics with admirable sensitivity and grace.