David Flusfeder holds the position of director of creative writing at the University of Kent at Canterbury, an institution that proudly counts two major international Nobel Laureates as part of its legacy — the talented Japanese Kazuo Ishiguro and the Tanzanian Abdur Razzak Gurnah. Canterbury equally proudly lays claim to two of Britain’s most influential classic authors — Geoffrey Chaucer and Christopher Marlowe.
As his recent, brilliant novella, Something Might Fall, indicates, Flusfeder (who is of an Anglo-American background) holds his own against this backdrop, with a grace and sophistication that leaves one marvelling, especially since the novella genre is a slippery and difficult one to cope with.
Released and launched in May 2026, the novella is divided into two main sections. Its time span includes the years 1970 and 1974, and is set in New York, particularly the Upper West Side, where the main female protagonist, Emma Sawyer (her maiden name was Hoffman), resides.
The first segment deals with the inner angst Emma suffers at having to act as the consummate hostess and socialite for her husband, Nicholas Sawyer, an affluent doctor.
A deeply loving and dedicated mother to her six-year-old son, Nicky, Emma feels increasingly trapped by a world where the slightest breach of social etiquette, even if inadvertent or a genuine mistake, can result in resentment and consequences that can all too easily escalate into a social crisis.
