Catch Us When We Fall

Fay’s sixth novel (after City of Flickering Light) examines addiction and its effects, but it’s also a story of redemption and love. When she turns 18, foster child Cassie starts dating Ben, the older brother of her friend Scott. Ben, though he’s brilliant, is fatally flawed, being an alcohol-addicted thrill seeker. He and Cassie party away a decade, until suddenly he’s dead from alcohol poisoning. Then Cassie discovers she’s pregnant, which is the shock she needs to go sober. But without money or sober friends, she’s not sure how to do it. She asks Scott, who now plays for the Boston Red Sox, to help; he agrees on the promise that there will be no drama. But of course there is drama, although Cassie manages to remain sober thanks to AA (which plays a big role in the book) and the friends she makes there.