Fall on Your Knees

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Fall on Your Knees is a novel by Canadian playwright, actor and novelist Ann-Marie MacDonald that takes place in late 1800s and early 1900s and describes the secret life of the Piper family. The title was taken from the text of the popular Christmas song "O Holy Night."

First published by Knopf Canada in 1996, the novel was an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2002.

[edit] Plot introduction

The story begins on Cape Breton Island where we meet James Piper, a poor piano tuner of Gaelic origin, and Materia Mahmoud, the daughter of wealthy and well-respected Lebanese parents. Their childish love rouses the angst of Materia's father, and to escape his anger they elope. So from the opening pages of the novel MacDonald establishes some of the major themes -- class conflict, racism, and isolation. MacDonald's real theme, however, is the nature of family love. Her main focus is on the childhood of the Piper sisters, and her extraordinary insight into the magic world of childhood is just one feature which makes this novel so compelling.^{[citation needed]}