They are the Pipers of Cape Breton Island — a family steeped in lies and unspoken truths that reach out from the past, forever mindful of the tragic secret that could shatter the family to its foundations.

Chronicling five generations of the eccentric Piper clan, Fall on Your Knees follows four remarkable sisters whose lives are filled with driving ambition, inescapable family bonds, and forbidden love. Their experiences will take them from their storm-swept homeland, across the battlefields of World War I, to the freedom and independence of Jazz-era New York City.

Fall on Your Knees is an epic saga of one family's trials and triumphs in a world of sin, guilt, and redemption.

"Beautiful? this big, bold, epic shocker of a novel reads as if John Irving met Joyce Carol Oates. It is history told with a thumping, complex narrative? a host of colourful characters and a great big bow to psychology? Fall On Your Knees is the work of a big talent. It's a wild ride." Chicago Tribune

"[MacDonald is] a first-rate novelist....[She] paints a Cape Breton landscape steeped in human emotion ...She has found the language of the heart that runs below everyday discourse....There is no resisting this story." The Globe and Mail

"Ann-Marie MacDonald — one of Canada's most talented actors and playwrights — has provided us with yet another aspect of a talent that has no limits." — Timothy Findley

"Brilliant...Profoundly and refreshingly different....MacDonald has constructed a plot worthy of Victor Hugo...A standout." Vancouver Sun

"MacDonald is a master of exciting story-telling, of suspense and surprise." The Montreal Gazette

A bestseller in Canada, this riveting family saga takes readers from Cape Breton Island to the battlefields of World War I to New York City's jazz scene--and into the lives, and guilty secrets, of four remarkable sisters.

The Piper family is steeped in secrets, lies, and unspoken truths. At the eye of the storm is one secret that threatens to shake their lives — even destroy them.

Set on stormy Cape Breton Island off Nova Scotia, Fall on Your Knees is an internationally acclaimed multigenerational saga that chronicles the lives of four unforgettable sisters. Theirs is a world filled with driving ambition, inescapable family bonds, and forbidden love.

Compellingly written, by turns menacingly dark and hilariously funny, this is an epic tale of five generations of sin, guilt, and redemption.

Ann-Marie MacDonald is a writers and actor. MacDonald is author of the internationally best-selling novel Fall On Your Knees. Translated into 17 languages it has received the Commonwealth Prize, the Canadian Author's Association Award, and two Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Awards. Her first play, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) was premiered in 1988 by Nightwood Theatre, and since has had over 100 productions in Canada, the U.S. and abroad. Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) was produced by Canadian Stage in Spring 2001 and ran to sold out audiences with MacDonald in the lead role. The play has been honoured with the Governor General's Award, the Chalmers Award and the Canadian Author's Association Award and is published by Grove Atlantic in the U.S., and Vintage Canada in Canada. MacDonald's theatrical roots are in collective creations such as This is For Your Anna and collaborations such as Nancy Prew: Clue in the Fast Lane. She co-created and performed in Theatre Columbus' The Attic, The Pearls, and 3 Fine Girls (Scirocco Press). Her other works for the theatre include the play The Arab's Mouth (Blizzard Press) and the libretto for the opera Nigredo Hotel. All have been produced numerous times in Canada and several have toured internationally. MacDonald has performed in theatres across Canada, and continues to act in film, television and theatre. Screen credits include I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, Where the Spirit Lives (Gemini Award) and most recently the role of Frances in Better Than Chocolate. Her latest theatre production is the new musical comedy, Anything That Moves, with script by Ann-Marie MacDonald and Lisa Palmer, lyrics by MacDonald, and music by Allen Cole. Anything That Moves won the Dora Award for Outstanding New Musical.

Ann-Marie MacDonald lives in Toronto and is working on a new novel.