When the World Tips Over

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes references to mental illness, substance use and addiction, sexual assault, death, violence and child abuse.

When the World Tips Over explores the power of bonds between families and especially the emotions generated by familial relationships. Family bonds can be nurturing or destructive, as events of the novel show. One of the most powerful relationships that shapes a personality is the bond with a parent, and breaking that bond can have lasting and formative effects.

Early chapters of the novel illustrate this power through the impact that Theo Fall’s leaving Paradise Springs has had on his family. Theo is described as a larger-than-life character, a powerfully charismatic personality whose skills at wine-making have become legendary, given the way people describe the effects of drinking Fall wines. Gossip around town that Theo has been sighted here and there—and Dizzy’s certainty that she has seen him on the ridge above their property—give him the aspect of a ghost, a presence that lingers despite his long absence. For Dizzy, who sees other ghosts she will later learn are her ancestors, this is almost a comfort. She takes further comfort in the bond with her mother, whose skill with food she has inherited; Dizzy loves and adores Chef Mom.