The Opposite of Falling
  • Published: 15 June 2011
  • ISBN: 9780099523475
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $29.99

The Opposite of Falling

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EBook
1 Jul 2010
Paperback
15 Jun 2011
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What if the thing you most fear is the only thing that can set you free?

From Costa-shortlisted author of Inside the Whale comes the much-anticipated follow up to a bittersweet wartime love story.

At Niagara Falls, Toby O'Hara offers rides over the rushing water in a red and blue striped hot air balloon. The balloon is a day job for Toby, his night work is to continue to perfect his father's design for a flying machine.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Ursula Bridgewater, an independent woman from Liverpool, is ungraciously dumped by her fiancé. Ursula turns to the thrill of travel as an escape, and chooses a young orphan, Sally Walker, as her travelling companion. But Sally is never going to be quite as prepared for the land of freedom and opportunity as Ursula - and certainly not ready to accept Toby O'Hara's invitation to see Niagara from a great height.

Together these indomitable characters are lifted by small acts of bravery to find - surprised and heartened - that what once seemed terrifying is in fact the opposite...
  • Published: 15 June 2011
  • ISBN: 9780099523475
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 272
  • RRP: $29.99
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About the author

Jennie Rooney

Jennie Rooney was born in Liverpool in 1980. She read History at the University of Cambridge and taught English in France before moving to London to work as a lawyer. Her first novel, Inside the Whale, was a Richard and Judy debut choice, Tesco Book Club selection and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. The Opposite of Falling was published in 2010 and Red Joan in 2013.

Also by Jennie Rooney

Red Joan
Inside the Whale
See all

Praise for The Opposite of Falling

Confirms that she's a writer to watch

Bella

This is poignant, quirky and delightfully original

Woman & Home

Rooney writes beautifully

John Harding, Daily Mail

A fun read, the novel's charm lies in its quirky humour

Elizabeth Buchan, The Sunday Times

A breathtaking, uplifting novel

Fiona Atherton, The Scotsman

A big-hearted paean to the adventure of discovering love ... Rooney's lightness of touch imbues her characters with poignancy and humour. Yet it's her ability to capture the ecstasy and fear of falling in love and rising to its expectations that makes this such a joy

Mickey Noonan, Metro

It's a fine, funny, unfussy novel that pays overdue tribute to those magnificent women in their flying machines

Alfred Hickling, Guardian

As effortlessly as Proust or Forster, she incorporates unexpected aperçus

Christopher Hawtree, The Independent

A delightful tale

Good Housekeeping

This is an assured second novel - and wonderful company for that long-overdue summer trip

Press Assocation

Imaginative and transporting, but entirely unfussy and unsentimental, the novel is written with a glint in the eye that gives it that extra bit of wind beneath its wings

Nicola Barr, Guardian