If You Fall I Will Catch You

If You Fall I Will Catch You is a futuristic fantasy by debut novelist, Eifion Jenkins. Thinking the unthinkable – knowing the unknowable. Gwidion is a boy on the verge of manhood to whom 9/11 means nothing. But the psychic shock waves of an event that once shook the world are still felt in his village, all that is left of what was once Wales.
Gwidion’s unusual mental powers bring him to the attention of the world’s remaining politicians, desperate for a way to escape the failing Earth. But in a world which has lost track of its true history, Gwidion is determined to find out the truth about his past.
His efforts to answer his own questions propel him from his sheltered rural community, via the mysterious Soma Academy in Madrid, to a new life in the outer reaches of the galaxy.
 
This myth for modern times re-affirms that we are all linked, involved in the future and the past of our world in ways of which we are barely aware.
Reviews:
‘Gwidion’s extraordinary powers take him ever further – out into the farthest reaches of the galaxy and indeed beyond in a tale which slips easily between diverse worlds reminiscent of Hardy, Huxley, Orwell and the great science fiction writers that dared to dream beyond the realms of our solar system.
In scope and imagination, If You Fall is a breathtaking fiction traversing worlds – geographical, political and interstellar – with an ease that belies its first novel status.
Whether developing the growing complexity of a young boy struggling into manhood or depicting a background of Machiavellian power struggles, Jenkins speeds through 300 pages without a wasted word or comma.
Gwidion we are told is the dreamer, while Cai is the creator of universes, Jenkins proves himself equally adept in both roles – his is a tale unlike any other, made real through vivid imagery, heartfelt emotion and a mastery of language.
If You Fall is a novel destined for a stunning future and one assured of a deserved place on the bookshelf of great contemporary Welsh literature.’Steve Adams, South Wales Guardian, 7 May 2008  
‘Eifion Jenkins has constructed an imaginative and ambitious futuristic fiction, Asimovian in its scope. This is a big, multiviewpoint fantasy, which builds with smooth assurance from a gentle start in a peaceful, post-apocalyptic community to a wider, far more sinister perspective, shot through with tension and conflict. In the struggle to create a new future for mankind, the story cleverly mirrors our own contemporary world and illustrates with an original eye the possible consequences of our current lifestyles and political choices.  This is a captivating read.’ – Liz Whittaker
 
‘An ambitious and imaginative science fiction debut’ – Catherine Fisher
‘An extraordinary mystical fable, shot through with a warm humanity’ – Robert Nisbet