For readers of My Absolute Darling and Fourth of July Creek, a
"riveting and timely" Montana story about the unbreakable bond between a
young man and the abandoned boy put in his care (Jess Walter), as old
grievances of land and blood are visited upon them.
Wendell Newman, a young ranch hand in Montana, has recently lost his
mother, leaving him an orphan. His bank account holds less than a
hundred dollars, and he owes back taxes on what remains of the land his
parents owned, as well as money for the surgeries that failed to save
his mother's life.
An unexpected deliverance arrives in the form of seven-year-old Rowdy
Burns, the mute and traumatized son of Wendell's incarcerated cousin.
When Rowdy is put under his care, what begins as an ordeal for Wendell
turns into a powerful bond, as he comes to love the boy more than he
ever thought possible. That bond will be stretched to the breaking point
during the first legal wolf hunt in Montana in more than thirty years,
when a murder ignites a desperate chase.
Caught on the wrong side of a disaffected fringe group, Wendell is
determined both to protect Rowdy and to avoid the same violent fate that
claimed his own father. A gripping story set in a fractured and
misunderstood community, Fall Back Down When I Die is a haunting and
unforgettable tale of sacrificial love.
Finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
