Together We Fall Apart

A beautifully crafted debut novel from a compelling new voice in Australian fiction.

For the past seven years, Clare has been living in London. She works for a judge on child protection cases. Her partner, Miriam, is devoted to raising their young son, Rupert – their days are dominated by nap times, laundry, and hiding from each other.

When Clare returns to Melbourne to visit her ailing father, another crisis looms – her brother Max’s long-term drug addiction. She turns her efforts towards helping Max into rehab, but is this at the expense of her family back in London?

Moving, heartbreaking and devastatingly insightful, Together We Fall Apart is a story about running away and coming home.

'Explores the intricate dynamics of power, desire, motherhood and belonging with nuance, complexity and empathy.' Emily Bitto, author of The Strays and Wild Abandon

'A meditation on love and loss … Through richly drawn characters with deeply relatable flaws, Matthiesson expertly navigates the universal tension between the families we are born into and those which we create, capturing the very essence of what it is to be human.' Nadine J. Cohen, author of Everyone and Everything

'A deeply affecting portrait of home and family, skilfully and thoughtfully rendered.' Ewa Ramsey, author The Morbids

'Emotionally complex and constantly engaging … beautiful and richly descriptive.' Books + Publishing

'Retains a bold interest in the unsentimental, even unpalatable, complexity of human relationships … thought-provoking …Matthiesson is brave to explore such challenging ideas.' Saturday Paper

'Her portrait of a dysfunctional family is devastatingly lifelike and unexpectedly touching.' Australian Women's Weekly

Sophie Matthiesson is a lawyer and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne, a Bachelor of Laws from Monash University, and a Masters of Law from Cambridge University. She grew up in Melbourne, spent six years in London, and now lives in Central Victoria. Her short story Dead Heifers won the 2021 Boroondara Literary Awards. Together We Fall Apart is her debut novel.

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