Cirrus@Austlit

'Sophie Matthiesson’s debut novel, Together We Fall Apart, is another contribution to the genre of feminine middle-class melodrama in Australian fiction, the growing appetite for which might be bound up with the rise of book groups. This type of book is characterised by a well-educated, professional female protagonist and a plot centred on individual romance and familial challenges, with the latter most typically involving the death of a parent. These novels, which seem to prize being relatable, are often characterised by what Patrick White might have called a “dreary, dun-coloured” realism. Matthiesson’s novel isn’t always compelling – descriptions of busy airports and train stations are unnecessary and the dialogue is often banal – but the story is certainly not without appeal. This is primarily because it retains a bold interest in the unsentimental, even unpalatable, complexity of human relationships.' (Introduction)