The Rain Before It Falls

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The Rain Before It Falls is a lyrical novel written by British author Jonathan Coe that portrays the history of three generations of women directly or indirectly affected by the events of the post-war London and the rural Shropshire, the novel is very different to Coe's previous works, it is almost apolitical and it deals with the legacy that parents leave, wanting or not, to their children.

The title comes from a tune by jazz composer Michael Gibbs.

Most of the story is told through recordings of an old lady called Rosamond describing on tape twenty photographs that synthesize a family's history. The main part of the book consists of the descriptions of the various photographs, framed by a background story. While, every of these descriptions makes out a chapter there is only one chapter in the main part interrupting this structure to tell a piece of the background story.

The book was first published in 2007 by the Penguin Group.