Fall - by Colin McAdam (Paperback)

About the Book

"Awkward Noel thinks he's been allowed into the inner circle of his elite boarding school when he discovers his senior-year roommate is to be handsome, athletic Julius. Julius, in turn, cares only for the fleeting joys of teenage life: sneaking out to parties, playing pranks with friends, and most of all, spending the night with his girfriend, Fall. As Noel narrates this fateful semester from a perspective of many years, interwoven is Julius's own in-the-moment experiences of first love and male camaraderie. Always an outsider, Noel develops an unhealthy fascination with Julius, and his crush on Fall begins to border on a dangerous obsession. As Julius experiences all the pleasures of an eighteen-year-old in love, we watch as Noel self-consciously analyzes his interactions with Julius and Fall, convincing himself of a deep connection that might not exist. When Fall disappears close to winter break, Julius and Noel are forced to face their own inner desires, a confrontation that ushers the two boys out of the innocence of adolescence and into adulthood. A tremendous literary page-turner that perfectly captures the agonies and delights of adolescence, Fall is the exhilaration and angst of teenage love and friendship--and the ultimate transience of those feelings"--

Book Synopsis

Award-winning author Colin McAdam's second novel takes place at St. Ebury, an elite Ottawa boarding school. It's a place of privilege and hollow rules, of newly minted "traditions" and the barely restrained animal instincts of the boys. A handful of girls are also in attendance, among them Fall, a beautiful and elusive figure who becomes the object of fascination for many of the male students, including Noel, a smart, intensely idiosyncratic young man. But Fall ends up dating his roommate Julius, the charismatic son of the American ambassador, whom Noel also fixates upon. Amidst a heady mix of hormones and delusional impulses, Noel gradually loses control of his obsessions.

Told from the very different perspectives of Julius and Noel, Fall is a psychologically acute and relentless literary thriller of the first order.

Review Quotes

Praise for Fall

"Sensitive, honest and horrifying."
--The Guardian

"Heralded as one of Canada's most interesting new writers--despite the fact that he is really a citizen of the world--with Fall, McAdam takes us on a journey worth making."
--The Globe and Mail

"Fierce, dark, and disturbing--Fall is a journey into obsession and desire. The characters are complicated, real, and passionate. I read this novel from cover to cover in a single sitting, then told everyone I know to do the same. A haunting, memorable book."
--Aryn Kyle, author of The God of Animals

"This book tells a riveting story that breathlessly and beautifully swallows the reader, so there is the sensation of being in there and not just observing what happens. McAdam's style is perfect for his subject: the intensity of young love and the intensity of self-hatred. Reading it is a marvelous experience."
--Elizabeth Strout, bestselling author of Olive Kitteridge, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

About the Author

Colin McAdam's novel Some Great Thing won the Books in Canada First Novel Award and was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in the UK. His most recent work, A Beautiful Truth, won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. He has written for Harper's and lives in Toronto.