Falling to Earth

Falling to Earth
by Kate Southwood
Reviewed by
Julie Johnson

I tacked the Earthquake Preparedness checklist to my bulletin board. I think of all the horrific possibilities and resolve to get serious about that disaster checklist.  What I never considered, however, was what it would be like to be someone who escapes harm, whose home remains standing while others are ripped apart, to be someone whose livelihood is not only left intact but who would in fact benefit from the destruction. I never considered how a moment's good fortune could unleash a nightmare. The plot centers on one family: Paul and Mae Graves, their three children and Paul's mother, Lavinia. They alone emerge from a giant tri-state tornado that killed nearly 700 people in 1925 without injury, either to their bodies or to their home. Even Paul's business, the local lumberyard, is unscathed.  Within days the whispering begins and what follows is a haunting exposition on grief and suffering. The poise with which Southwood handles her themes of human nature, chance, suffering and loss left me breathless with admiration.