The Shock of the Fall: WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2013

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What is spectacular about this book is how immersed in our main character you get, he is telling the story of his life, his feelings, thoughts, his mental illness, it's a bit like sitting in the room with someone, listening avidly to their life story. Sectioned after failing to cope in the community, Matt is fully aware of how intimidating he can seem to others, with his gawky height and army-camouflage gear, strange behaviour and internal voices. At a time when there exist a number of movements aimed to expel the social stigmas and stereotypes commonly associated with mental illness, Nathan Filer utilises first-hand experience of mental health to create a novel that raises some very important issues concerning the nature of mental illness itself.

I became really attached to him as a character and really wanted him to succeed in overcoming the struggles in his life. He jumps from one topic to another and that's when the line between the past memories, the present consciousness and the future expectations blurs. The focus on the frailty of the human mind is something that resonates really strongly with me, and telling these stories is vital. But other than that, there’s no plot to follow, few other characters, and a narrator with very little personality or much to say. As far as how it really is in mental institutions, how the staff really are, there were no revelations.

When he was nine, his older brother, Simon, who had Down’s syndrome, died during a family holiday at a caravan park on the Dorset coast. I remember going to the theaters and seeing the movie "Beautiful Minds", I loved this movie, was completely blown away. The Shock of the Fall by registered mental health nurse and author Nathan Filer is 'so good it will make you feel a better person', say the Costas judges. It takes place over three timelines: the present where Matt is writing; the past where Simon is alive; and the decade since Simon died. Nathan Filer is a registered mental health nurse as well as a performance poet and his real-life experience is evident in this, his debut novel.

The judges described it as "contemporary life filtered through the form of common prayer with a musicality sustained across a memorable body of work". If it were to win that it would be a rare thing with only one children's book, Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass in 2001, winning the overall prize since the award was created in 1985.

In 2005 Filer's comedy short film Oedipus won the BBC Best New Filmmaker Award and numerous international prizes. Some madness doesn't act mad to begin with, sometimes it will knock politely at the door, and when you let it in, it'll simply sit in the corner without a fuss - and grow. This angers Matt, fueling his schizoid demeanor and subsequent need to vent his feelings onto the page. Un titolo che, rispetto a “Chiedi alla luna”, bello, dolce, poetico ma a mio avviso lontano dalla storia narrata, ci avrebbe fatto presentire quello che davvero troviamo fra queste pagine: la storia di un evento traumatico, che cambia per sempre la vita dei protagonisti.

His early teen years were rebellious, probably because the schizophrenia already affected his moods, and he made life difficult for everyone, himself included. There are books which, because of the sheer skill with which every word is chosen, linger in your mind for days.The underlying secret behind Matthew's illness was predictable but Filer attempted to attach some level of mystery to the disclosure by waiting until the end of the book to reveal what had happened early in Matthew's life. He held his son in his lap, and as he spoke, he felt Buckley’s small body on his knee-the very human, very warm, very alive weight of it. His older brother Simon, who is afflicted with Down’s syndrome and several other medical conditions, carries Matt back to safety following his injury.