Richard –
Richard is an accountant. Married to Lisa, he is the father of eight year old Hannah and toddler Oscar. He loves his children very much, but… Richard feels claustrophobic – absolutely stifled and trapped by his life. He longs for a quiet life with no children around. He looks out his window at Bill’s house across the street and covets Bill’s life. Richard goes so far as to plan his ‘escape‘, fantasizing about a new life away from England. He dreams of a solitary life in the American midwest. 
The monotony and suffocation of his family life constantly suffocate him. Torn, he waffles between wanting to escape, and longing to stay for his children.
Bill –
Bill spends a good part of his day gazing out his front window at the house across the street. A house filled with noise, life, and love – or so he thinks. He secretly wishes for Richard’s life.
At eighty-seven years old, Bill’s life is a quiet and sedentary one. He lives with his beloved wife Rosie, and is the father of two daughters. Victoria, the eldest daughter, disappeared over thirty years ago – never to be heard from again. Both Bill and his wife keep vigil for her return. They never go out at the same time so that there’s always someone home in case Victoria were to return home… Samantha, their youngest, passed away several years ago leaving a grieving husband behind. Samantha’s widower, Kevin, has been a godsend to Bill and his wife. Kevin is attentive to their needs and acts like the son they never had.
The suburban street where Richard and Bill live is under several feet of snow after a recent storm. They are snowed in, and it is just a week before Christmas…
If ever there was a good example of “the grass is always greener on the other side of the street“, it is eloquently depicted in “Drift, Stumble, Fall“. It is human nature to pine for what we don’t have.
Bill and Rosie’s story was one of such deep sadness, while Richard and Lisa seemed not to appreciate each other, to be just ‘going through the motions’.
I have to say, that this is a book about not much at all, but it is written with such empathy and understanding of human nature that being inside Richard’s head proved to be riveting reading.
The whole time I was wondering whether Richard would stay or go. Also, wondering just what would MAKE him stay? what would MAKE him go?
At the end of this powerful little novel I wondered… just how many people around us, who appear to be adjusted and content, are really living lives of quiet desperation?
This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from BooksGoSocial via NetGalley.
Publication date: April 12, 2018
Publisher: Hideaway Fall – BooksGoSocial
ISBN:9780995492349 ASIN: B079KHL5B1 324 pages
Jonathan Lee is a nationally shortlisted author who was born Yorkshire where he still lives today with his second wife, five children, two cats and a dog.
His debut novel, The Radio was shortlisted for The Novel Prize 2012. He has spoken in schools, colleges, prisons and universities about creative writing and storytelling and appeared at various literary festivals including Sheffield’s Off the Shelf and Doncaster’s Turn the Page festival.
His second novel, The Page was released in February 2015.
His much anticipated third novel, A Tiny Feeling of Fear was released in September 2015 and tells the story of a character struggling with mental illness. All profits from this novel are donated to charity to raise awareness of mental health issues.
In 2016, he signed for boutique publishers, Hideaway Fall and his fourth novel Broken Branches was released in July 2017, winning book of the month in Candis magazine for September.
He is a tireless campaigner for mental health awareness and writes his own column regularly for the Huffington Post. He has recently written for the Big Issue and spoken at length about his own personal struggle on the BBC and Radio Talk Europe. Drift Stumble Fall was released in Spring 2018, while his sixth novel 337 was published in 2020.
Visit M. Jonathan Lee’s website and/or follow him on Twitter @MJonathanLee
My Tuesday post where I’ll ‘tease‘ you with the cover, blurb, and first paragraph of one of the advanced reader’s copies from my own TBR.
1) The author! Gilly Macmillan has written several thrillers which I have enjoyed.
I recently purchased a new Ninja Foodi and I’m on a steep learning curve to master the beast. So far I’ve air fried, sauteed, and pressure cooked. It also dehydrates, broils, steams, bakes, and roasts.
This week my husband and I finished watching the most recent season of “
Last year I started going through the entire alphabet, one letter per month. For January 2022, the thirteenth month of my endeavor, I’m listing all of my favourite novels that begin with the letter ‘M‘. I am choosing these titles from the books I’ve read since I began this blog. There are 15 books recommended here.
Frankie Elkin is, in her own words, a scrawny, middle-aged white woman. She is a drifter, an excellent bartender, and an alcoholic. For the past decade, Frankie has been sober and devoting her life to finding missing persons. Usually people who are minorities, whose cases have gone cold. She has found many of these people, though not all of them alive.
Frankie Elkin is unique, damaged, and so very memorable. I loved her and was sad when I turned the last page on her story when I read “
This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Cornerstone/Random House UK via 
The Throwback Thursday meme was created by Renee over at 
We first meet Harry (or Little Fox) as he is known, in 1946 when he is a very young man. He was too young to have served in the war like his two older brothers. Their ancestral manor house/farm, Hartgrove Hall, was requisitioned by the British Army during the war and they are just reacquainting themselves with its grandeur and its decrepitude. The house is in dire need of a large influx of cash which they do not have.
Natasha Solomons is a screenwriter and novelist. She lives in Dorset with her husband, the award-winning children’s author David Solomons, and their two children. She is the New York Times best-selling author of four novels and her work has been translated into seventeen languages.
1965 – Ellie Hockley is a young white woman who risks her family’s scorn and disapproval to work towards helping black North Carolinians to register to vote. Her commitment to the cause and her ardent beliefs cause such friction that, after one fateful summer, she leaves her home and family and goes to live in California.
This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from 
It has been over two months since I did a ‘Miserly Monday’ post, so I’m long overdue. Today I’m letting you know about 9 bargain Kindle purchases. (one of which is a box-set of four titles)
Juliette and Danny – make the decision to relocate to the country to make a fresh start. They have recently lost their young daughter to meningitis, and feel that escaping their London life, with all its memories, would be good for them both. Juliette works from home and Danny commutes back and forth to the city. They both instantly fall in love with their new home which only has one flaw… the rather odd and suspicious next-door neighbours.
I’ve heard a lot of positive praise for this author from several of my fellow bookbloggers and have wanted to read her work for some time now. What took me so long? After reading “The Life She Wants“, I’ll now know to expect quality writing and an engaging plot.
Still grieving the loss of her husband, she refuses to enter her bedroom since he left two years ago. She sleeps on the sofa, or in a chair in her living room. SHE IS NOT COPING! She isn’t looking after herself and she seems absolutely overwhelmed by the sensory overload that is London life. The noise, the smells, the light, the people. This is exacerbated by her upstairs neighbour Emily, who selfishly plays her music too loud, and generally seems to make as much noise as is physically possible. This in a house where sound travels effortlessly so that everything from opening drawers to going to the bathroom is clearly audible.
Georgina Lees studied creative writing and film at university and has since pursued a career in video-games journalism, covering some of the most popular games in the world. Her psychological thrillers are inspired by her surroundings, from the congested London streets to the raw English countryside. She can be found playing games, writing stories, and reading anything from fantasy to crime fiction.
This novel has been on my TBR from the first moment I saw the great cover and read the 
I understand that this novel has since been re-titled “The Retreat” and can be found on Amazon and Kobo.
Born in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, 
“One Step Too Far” by Lisa Gardner
“The Younger Wife” by Sally Hepworth
“Magpie” by Elizabeth Day
We pick up one year after the events of the second book in the Skelfs series, “
The Skelfs have two businesses which they run out of their large Victorian house in Edinburgh. They run a funeral parlour AND a private detective agency.
Schrödinger – the Skelf family’s ginger tabby, is a welcome diversion throughout the novel. Aloof, yet affectionate, Schrödinger is outwardly disdainful of Einstein, the canine member of the family, yet he cares for him in his own catty way.
