I Dreamed of Falling

This novel of small-town heartbreak, grittily emotional in a way that’s reminiscent of Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, introduces the lovably flawed Grady family: Roman, his partner, Ashley; their son, Mason; Roman’s mom, Tara; and her partner, John. They all barely hold it together financially and every other way in their part-time Airbnb in upstate New York. The house needs extensive repairs, but who has the money? Instead they’re muddling along, with Tara mainly raising Mason and his parents resenting her takeover. Then Roman finds Ashley dead on the riverbank behind her drug-addict friend’s house. As word gets out that Ashley had a bag of pills in her pocket, everyone in town assumes it was an overdose. But Roman wants real answers, and his digging creates a realistic, relatable saga of poverty mixed with love and bad choices. All the characters here are memorable, but four-year-old Mason and his bottomless, bewildered grief are particularly well drawn. A family and a story to remember.