When Love and Memory Loss Collide: Read our Review of The Beautiful Fall by Hugh Breakey

The Beautiful Fall is a cinematic, page-turning romance. Both an intriguing puzzle and a compulsively readable love story, it will sweep you away.

Every 179 days Robbie forgets everything. He knows this because last time it happened, he wrote himself a letter explaining it. The disorientation. The fear. The bizarre circumstances imposed by the rare neurological condition he lives with.

To survive the forgetting – to cope with his recurring loss of identity – Robbie leads a solitary, regimented life. Lives alone. Speaks to no one if he can avoid it. Works to complete a strange herculean task set for him by his former self.

And then, with twelve days left before his next forgetting, Julie invades his life. Young, beautiful – the only woman he can ever remember meeting.

As the hour draws near, Robbie is forced to confront the fact that his past is very different from how he had imagined it. And when Julie reveals her own terrible secret, he must find a way to come to terms with the truth about himself.

Hugh Breakey’s debut novel is a compelling love story, filled with heart and propelled by unexpected twists. I was captivated by this novel from the first chapter, where we are introduced to the solitary Robbie and his rare neurological condition that causes a total onset of amnesia every 179 days. Robbie goes about his daily tasks with the utmost precision, and the anxiety caused by his upcoming ‘forgetting’ is truly palpable. The arrival of Julie, who delivers his groceries, throws his life into disarray and confusion, as he is on the precipice of forgetting everything he knows about himself and his surroundings.

Robbie and Julie are both engaging and relatable characters, each with their own past demons to confront, and they will keep you guessing as the book progresses. Their budding romance was beautifully portrayed and a joy to follow. Taking place over twelve frantic days, The Beautiful Fall draws you in and keeps you hooked until the final page.

Fans of Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project, or anyone who enjoys eccentric characters and touching romances, will love this book. I can’t wait to see Breakey’s next venture into the world of fiction.