Falling Woman A Novel

A SUSPENSEFUL STORY ABOUT THE SOLE SURVIVOR OF A PLANE CRASH AND THE MAN ASSIGNED TO FIND HER

Erin has reached a breaking point in her cancer treatment. She believes that she is essentially already dead to all who know her--her husband, her full-grown daughters, and the ex-lover from her office. Facing a third round of treatment, she decides to take a week off from doctors and hospitals and even her family, and to fly from her home in Washington, DC, to a retreat in California. When the plane she is on encounters extreme turbulence over Kansas and comes apart in midair, she accepts the reality of the fact that this will be her real death. But fate has other ideas, for she miraculously survives not only the explosion but also the fall from the sky.

Charlie Radford is a young National Transportation Safety Board investigator who is part of the team sent to determine what caused the crash, and also to find and identify the bodies of the fallen. When, several days into his investigation, he hears a rumor that a woman was found alive in a barn, still strapped to her airline seat, he assumes it is a hoax. As word of this "miracle" has reaches the media--as well as the men and women in Congress--young Radford is forced to assume responsibility for tracking down the source of the rumor and to find the woman, should she actually exist. Once he does he must convince her to come forward. The problem is that Erin refuses to cooperate. All she wants is to be left alone to live out what time she has left, away from the rest of the world. But when one reporter gets wind of her location, Radford must decide how to protect this "falling woman" while at the same time answering the commands of his superiors in the government agency.

Fast-paced and full of twists and surprises, The Falling Woman is a story of the irony of fate, and of which conflicting factor will prevail: the need of the government and its people to know the truth, or the right of a woman to determine how her personal story will play out.

A SUSPENSEFUL AND PROFOUND STORY ABOUT THE SOLE SURVIVOR OF A PLANE CRASH AND THE YOUNG AGENT ASSIGNED TO FIND HER

Tragedy strikes during a cross-country flight when sudden turbulence causes the jet to come apart in midair. Th e odds of anyone surviving are nearly impossible. Charlie Radford, a young National Transportation Safety Board investigator, is part of the team sent to determine what caused the crash. When he hears a rumor of a survivor, he assumes it is a hoax. As word of this "miracle" reaches the media and Congress, Radford is forced to track down "the falling woman," said to have been found in a barn still strapped to her seat.

The woman at the center of the mystery, Erin Geraghty, was facing a losing battle with cancer when she embarked on her flight. With diminishing hope of a full recovery, she had considered herself essentially dead to her loved ones. Now, after the plane crash, she is intent on remaining dead to the world and to her family, to live out her final days in peace. And then Agent Radford arrives at her doorstep. Can he convince her to come forward, and does he have any right to?

A riveting novel that ultimately asks compelling questions about the value of privacy, our responsibilities to our loved ones, and our right to control our own narrative, Richard Farrell's debut is perfectly framed to become a favorite for book clubs and for all readers who relish a profound, page-turning story with heart.

"This is the kind of novel I like best . . . Great writing, great plotting, and a thoughtful plumbing of what makes us human." --B. A. Shapiro, bestselling author of The Art Forger and The Collector's Apprentice

First, it's just a barely believable rumor: one person may have survived the midair explosion of a passenger jet on a cross-country course from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. But soon she becomes a national media sensation when "the Falling Woman," as the press dubs her, is said to have been taken to a Wichita hospital--and then to have disappeared without a trace.

As a dedicated National Transportation Safety Bureau agent joins the search for clues, he becomes drawn into the woman's moving and personal fight to keep secret the story of her survival, even from her own family, and possibly at risk to his own career.

The Falling Woman is a novel that asks compelling and controversial questions about the value of life and what should be sacrificed in the name of love.