Ann-Marie MacDonald is an author, actor, playwright, and
broadcaster. Her first novel, "Fall on Your Knees" was a critically
acclaimed "New York Times" bestseller. It won the Commonwealth
Prize, was short-listed for the Giller Prize, and won the People s
Choice Award and the Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award
for Fiction Book of the Year. In 2002 it became an Oprah s Book
Club selection. It has been translated into 19 languages. Her
second novel, "The Way the Crow Flies" was an "New York Times"
bestseller, a finalist for the Giller Prize, and a Good Morning
America Book Club pick. It has been translated into 13
languages.
Her first solo-authored play, "Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning
Juliet)" won the Chalmers Award, the Governor General s Award, and
the Canadian Authors Association Award. Her other works for the
stage include the libretto for the chamber opera Nigredo Hotel,
book and lyrics for the musical "Anything that Moves" (which
garnered several Dora Awards, including Outstanding New Musical),
and "Belle Moral: A Natural History."
She lives in Montreal with her partner and their two children.
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Praise for "Adult Onset"
"[B]ig, troubling and bravenovel."
"New York Times Book Review"
"[Adult Onset is] the most accurate description of solo parenting
I've ever read....[MacDonald's] writing is dizzying and brilliant,
and often disorienting, which beautifully supports the novel's
themes, perfectly capturing how it feels to be unmoored and
seemingly alone."
"Associated Press" "Riveting . . . MacDonald s strong narrative is
a compelling examination of the loneliness and the often-absurd
helplessness of being a parent of young children."
"Publishers Weekly"
Ms. MacDonald strikes just the right tone as she exposes the brutal
undercurrents of domestic life.
"New York Times " "This is an affecting, multilayered account of
domestic ennui and the painful effects of long-held secrets on
three generations."
"Kirkus"
"[F]ine, clearly detailed writing makes for an accomplished
read..."
"Library Journal"
"Ann-Marie MacDonald captures the dark hilarity of parenthood like
nobody else. I gulped down "Adult Onset" in a single day."
Emma Donoghue, author of "Room" and "Frog Music"
"A complex, troubling novel that cuts with surgical precision into
the sinew and muscle of family life."
Sarah Waters, author of "The Paying Guests"
MacDonald fashions, after a 10-year hiatus, a novel impossible to
put down once begun. . . . MacDonald . . . scans the parameters of
parenthood with an unflinching gaze. Her depiction of the perils of
everyday domestic turmoil can be harrowing as well as, at times,
hilarious. . . . Since MacDonald s books have all been so
extraordinary, it is impossible to rank Adult Onset against the
others. Suffice it to say the novel is superb, a fine blending of
fact and fiction, of remembered incident and forgotten history, a
wonderfully written treatise on the power of the past to impinge on
the present.
Nancy Schiefer, "The London Free Press" (also in the "Toronto Sun,"
"Edmonton Sun")
In basic factual terms, there is barely a playing card s width
between life and art in ["Adult Onset," ] an intricate, gripping
novel that is also a master class in turning the personal into the
universal through art.
Brian Bethune, "Maclean s"
"Adult Onset" is the third novel by Ann-Marie Macdonald. . . . The
scene is set for a roller-coaster ride offering brief moments of
serenity amid increasingly terrifying plunges into the darkness of
Mary Rose s past. Suspense builds; surely, horror awaits. . . .
Macdonald s book remains spellbinding throughout. It is impossible
to forget, despiteor perhaps because ofan ending that leaves the
reader exhausted and with no easy answers.
Paul Gessell, "Quill & Quire"
Though all of Ann-Marie s works are very distinct entities . . .
her third book has the same beautifully crafted descriptions and
character-driven storytelling that readers have come to love from
the writer.
Jill Buchner, "Canadian Living"
One of the remarkable things about "Adult Onset" is how viscerally
and honestly it deals with the trials and tribulations of domestic
life.
Adrian Chamberlain, "Times Colonist"
One of the highly anticipated novels of the season is the latest
from the award-winning novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald.
Joseph Planta, "TheCommentary.ca"
If you re of [an anxious] disposition, reading Ann-Marie MacDonald
s latest novel, "Adult Onset," is both a blessing and a curse. It s
certainly an accurate depiction, and best described as exposure
therapyan exercise in committing yourself to multiple hours of
low-grade anxiety, like walking into a crowded, sweltering room if
you re claustrophobic, wandering a fluorescent-lit hospital if you
re a hypochondriac, or travelling a long distance via air if you
have a fear of flying. There s an inexplicable sense of doom to
overcome if you re going to get through it, a looming spectre of
disaster, even if all seems well on the surface as you turn each
page. "Adult Onset" is MacDonald s long-awaited third novel,
following her highly successful blockbuster 1996 debut, "Fall on
Your Knees," and her 2003 Giller Prize shortlisted "The Way The
Crow Flies." . . . At its core, "Adult Onset" is about what happens
when we are unable to face the physical and emotional pain of our
past head on, and how the chronic illness of trauma will haunt even
the most insignificant moments of our days. . . . It is a high
achievement for a writer to portray the persistent worry of
avoidance in a way than rings true, and MacDonald has beyond
succeeded. It is in this sense that "Adult Onset" is both a book
that is difficult to endure, and one worthy of our praise and
attention. . . . Many of us will see ourselves in the profound
discomfort MacDonald has conjured, and though the narrative lends
itself to frustration as a result, the book is an absolute triumph
of terrifying authenticity.
Stacey May Fowles, "National Post"
Art imitates life in "Adult Onset." . . . Tackling many heavy
topics including miscarriage, depression, homophobia, and physical
abuse, "Adult Onset" is an overall enjoyable read focusing on
guilt, grief, memory, and family.
Carlyn Schellenberg, "The Manitoban"
A stunning and powerful work that will knock readers on their
collective keister. . . . Bold novel. . . . In "Adult Onset," every
character has depth, a story, nuance.
Ron Johnson, "Post City Toronto"
Celebrated author, Ann-Marie Macdonald . . . is poised to return to
the literary spotlight with her first book in more than a decade. .
. . The multi-faceted author, actor, playwright, and broadcaster
refashioned events from her own life.
Vit Wagner, "Quill & Quire"
One of the most anticipated new fiction releases this fall.
Laura Eggertson, "Toronto Star"
Scheduled to appear sometime this year, MacDonald s "Adult Onset"
is not yet being publicized; there is no cover or plot summary
posted on the Random House Canada website or on Amazon.ca. It doesn
t matter. Her many fans, having read her first two books, the epic
and masterful "Fall On Your Knees" and "The Way the Crow Flies,"
are waiting with bated breath for whatever the new book turns out
to be. If "Adult Onset" is anything like the previous two novels it
will be a marvelous, complex romp through recent history and
current reality, crammed with memorable characters offering a
stimulating view of the world.
"The Rover" (Montreal)
Everyone is keeping a tight lid on what it s all about, but I can
guarantee you it ll be a bestseller.
Brenna Clarke Gray, "Book Riot" ("Adult Onset" is one of 10 Reasons
You Should [Re]Discover CanLit in 2014 )
"Adult Onset" s low simmer is a change of pace from MacDonald s
previous murder-mystery spy thriller "The Way the Crow Flies," and
literary debut "Fall on Your Knees." . . . What remains, however,
is MacDonald s effortless ability to quickly spin pathos into
humour, making the suffering of her characters humane and never
heavy-handed.
Leah Golob, "The Georgia Straight"
"Suffice it to say ["Adult Onset"] is superb, a fine blending of
fact and fiction, of remembered incident and forgotten history, a
wonderfully written treatise on the power of the past to impinge on
the present."
"The Toronto Sun"
"A lively, moving, and often funny story that has the potential to
help usher in a new era of honest literary depictions of families
in all their permutations."
"The Walrus"
"MacDonald s book remains spellbinding throughout. It is impossible
to forget."
"Quill & Quire"
"In "Adult Onset," MacDonald tracks what looks like a well-do-to
creative-class person who is wrestling with a dark force, except in
this case the menace is largely confined to the interior, a matter
of memory and psychology. And she has again delivered a
masterpiece."
"The Globe & Mail"
"[Th]e book is an absolute triumph of terrifying authenticity. . .
.Adult Onset is . . . worthy of our praise and attention."
"The National Post" Praise for "Fall On Your Knees"
In this resonant first novel Ms. MacDonald skillfully shifts the
story backward and forward in time, giving it a mythic quality that
allows dark, half-buried secrets to be gracefully and chillingly
revealed.
"The New York Times"
The uniqueness of MacDonald s voice, and of her approach, lies in
her ability to distillShe can capture, deftly, the fleeting moment,
the fragmented feelings that make up so much of what we term
understanding . Thus, complex experiences become single, vivid
images. It is a rare talent that can produce it for others to
see.
"The London Times" Praise for "The Way the Crow Flies"
"Remarkable...an engrossing, disturbing and layered tale."
"The Chicago Tribune"
"One of the finest novels I've read in a long, long time."
"The Washington Post""
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