fall

A place of pressure and contradictions, St. Ebury is an exclusive boarding school for the children of Canada's elite, where boys must act as men while navigating their adolescence, a mixed school with only a handful of girls. Fall is the most beautiful. Noel, a clever, ghostly loner, is certain that one day Fall will come to know him deeply. But like everyone else, she is drawn to Julius, the confident and magnetic son of the American ambassador to Canada. At the beginning of their final year, the two boys room together and while Julius grows physically closer to Fall, Noel's boisterous enthusiasm shades into something darker. A disturbing and unforgettable story of guilt, memory, and confused identity, Colin McAdam's second novel is a work of power, pitch-perfect observation, and searing ambition.

Fall

Literature & Fiction

McAdam, Colin

Literary

Penguin Canada

Some Great Thing

Walt and Judy are deeply in love, but Judy longs for a child. Walt measures all beauty against that of Judy and doesn’t want her eyes to get any sadder. They stay side by side and search for distractions, realizing they may never have a family—when Walt finds an unexpected opportunity in the pages of Life magazine. Soon they are welcoming Looee, born in Sierra Leone, into their home in the hills of Vermont, where they come to regard him as their son. The three of them eventually find their rhythm and settle into their own version of love and life between four walls. Until the night their unique family is changed forever. 
Hundreds of miles away, at the Girdish Institute in Florida, a group of chimpanzees has been studied for decades. There is proof that chimps have memories and solve problems, that they can learn language and need friends. They are political, altruistic; they get angry and forgive. Among them is Mr. Ghoul, who has grown up in a world of rivals, sex, and unpredictable loss. As Looee and Mr. Ghoul’s distant but parallel paths through childhood, adolescence, and early middle age converge, a new experience of family is formed. Told simultaneously from the perspective of humans and chimpanzees, A Beautiful Truth is an inventive, thrillingly intelligent, and heartfelt novel about parenthood, friendship, loneliness, and strength, about the things we hold sacred as humans and the facts that link us inevitably to a nature we too often ignore.

A Beautiful Truth

Jerry McGuinty is a simple, self-made builder who claims he can plaster a wall that will change your life. Simon Struthers is a disaffected businessman who proves the old adage about money and happiness. Together they face the new Ottawa of the seventies: brash, bright, and ready for the taking. With their different careers and successes, these two strangers seek to carve out their own happiness-Jerry with his new wife, Simon with his endless affairs and intrigues. But love can be suffocated by the drive to succeed, and individuals crushed by greed and progress. Only when both men realize what they have to lose will their lives finally intersect, and the story spiral to its astonishing conclusion.

United States

Harcourt

Jerry McGuinty is a simple, self-made builder who claims he can plaster a wall that will change your life. Simon Struthers is a disaffected businessman who proves the old adage about money and happiness. Together they face the new Ottawa of the seventies: brash, bright, and ready for the taking. With their different careers and successes, these two strangers seek to carve out their own happiness-Jerry with his new wife, Simon with his endless affairs and intrigues. But love can be suffocated by the drive to succeed, and individuals crushed by greed and progress. Only when both men realize what they have to lose will their lives finally intersect and the story spiral to its astonishing conclusion

Mariner Books

A novel about the simple truths that transcend species, about the meaning of family, the lure of belonging, and the capacity for survival Walt and Judy are deeply in love, but Judy longs for a child and finds that life is holding few surprises. Walt measures all beauty against that of Judy but doesn’t want her eyes to get any sadder. They stay side by side and search for distractions, realizing they may never have a family. On a day when hope seems low, Walt finds an unexpected opportunity in the pages of Life magazine. Soon they are welcoming Looee, born in Sierra Leone, into their home in the hills of Vermont , where they come to regard him as their son. Looee is a hurricane in clothes; the house is torn apart. Judy asks questions of herself and is judged by friends and strangers. But the three of them eventually find their rhythm and settle into their own version of love and life between four walls. Until the night their unique family is changed forever. Hundreds of miles away, at the Girdish Institute in Florida , a group of chimpanzees has been studied for decades. There is proof that chimps have memories and solve problems, that they can learn language and need friends. They are political, altruistic; they get angry and forgive. Among them is Mr. Ghoul, who has grown up in a world of rivals, sex and unpredictable loss. As Looee and Mr. Ghoul ’s distant but parallel paths through childhood, adolescence and early middle age converge, a new experience of family is formed. Told simultaneously from the perspective of humans and chimpanzees, A Beautiful Truth is an inventive, thrillingly intelligent and heartfelt novel about parenthood, friendship, loneliness and strength, about the things we hold sacred as humans and the facts that link us inevitably to a nature we too often ignore.

Hamish Hamilton

A place of pressure and contradictions, St Ebury is an exclusive boarding school for the children of Canada’s elite, where boys must act as men while navigating their adolescence; a mixed school with only a handful of girls. Fall is the most beautiful. At night the bathrooms and beds hum with thoughts of her. Noel, a clever, ghostly loner, prowls the corridors on weekends, filling spare hours working on his body-building. Watching her, always knowing where she is and who she’s talking to, he is certain that one day Fall will come to know him deeply. But like everyone else, she is drawn to Julius, the confident and magnetic son of the American ambassador to Canada. At the beginning of their final year, the two boys room together and awkward Noel believes he is allowed into a new circle of friends. Julius grows physically closer to Fall, his eyes open to the moments around him, while Noel’s boisterous enthusiasm shades into something darker as he imagines himself as a confidante to his popular roommate. While Julius moves through the daily joys and absurdities of adolescence, Noel recounts from a distance of several years what the consequences were of his efforts to enter Fall’s life forever. A disturbing and unforgettable story of guilt, memory and confused identity, Colin McAdam’s second novel is a work of power, pitch–perfect observation and searing ambition. It confirms his status as a truly unique talent, one of the few living novelists capable of taking the modern novel and forging from it something startling and wholly new.

Blackstone Audiobooks

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Raincoast Book Distribution

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Books by McAdam, Colin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McAdam, Colin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Fall

Some Great Thing

A Beautiful Truth

Some Great Thing

Some Great Thing

A Beautiful Truth

Fall

A Beautiful Truth

Some Great Thing

Some Great Thing