Book Review: Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie Macdonald

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Acknowledgments & Awards: Oprah’s Book Club (2002), Commonwealth Writer Prize for Best First Book, translated into 17 languages,

Rating: 4/5

I’ve thought long and hard about how to describe or summarize this book and just one word seems to pop into my head-- chilling.

During the beginning of the 20^th century, 18-year-old James finds himself orphaned and all alone until he elopes with his 13-year-old child bride Materia, who comes form a wealthy, traditional Lebanese family. When Materia’s father learns of his daughter’s marriage, he disowns his child and the ‘white’ man who has taken his daughters innocence. James and Materia’s marriage deteriorates after James realizes he has married a child who he has nothing in common with and no longer finds sexually attractive.

Kathleen is the Piper’s first-born child. She is described by everyone she encounters as breathtakingly beautiful and possessing the voice of an angel. She quickly becomes James’ obsession and as she ages, her parent’s relationship deteriorates. James begins to have disturbing feelings for his own flesh—feelings he fears he cannot control. Macdonald succeeds in having the reader both sympathize and loathe James. He struggles with his incestuous feelings for his daughter and decides to ship her to New York to protect her and so she can further develop her career as an opera singer. His halfhearted attempts are futile and his demons grow stronger.

While in New York, Kathleen falls in love with an African-American woman. When James finds out, he leaves Canada to bring his daughter home. By the time he gets to New York, the reader is told that ‘the war has ended’—Kathleen returns home pregnant. James has combated his demons-- he finally succumbs and rapes Kathleen.

The reader is given full access to the lives of the Piper sister: Kathleen, Mercedes, France, and Lily. Kathleen dies during childbirth and the reader is introduced to her daughter Lily-- James’ ‘consolation prize.’ Materia dies immediately following Kathleen’s death leaving Mercedes to take over as the family’s maternal figure. She buries her head in the sand and pretends nothing immoral is going on in her home while Frances is forced to take on the family’s burden and becomes her father’s next victim.

The novel shifts back and forth in time, revealing heartbreaking secret after secret. The Piper's tackle themes of isolation, forbidden love, incest, religion, death, and racial superiority. At the core of this novel is a complex battle between family love and the violent turns it can take.

You’ll find yourself turning the pages quickly in search of what happens next and asking yourself just how much three little girls can take? Family bonds are tested and at times disgraced but eventually it is proven that love at its purest form will act as a savior.