Oprah: Well, many times during the reading of Fall on Your Knees, I would say, 'How can that be happening now?' And then I'd say, 'It's a book. I might be the only one left standing, but here it is.' It's going to break the surface.Īnn-Marie: For me, a happy ending is when someone can walk out of the rubble and tell the story and say, 'Okay, I've got the secret. A secret is a powerful metaphor.the idea that something's buried, and no matter how many layers of concrete you put over it, it's going to come up. But there is some sort of long and indelible cultural influence of my own Catholic upbringing which has, I think, forged my imagination.īrenda: That's so prevalent through the whole book.Īnne-Marie: Who did it is a mystery. Those of you who need to have the forensic evidence, there it is.' I like it to work on those levels. And it's almost like saying, 'Okay, those of you who would like to believe there's a miracle, go ahead. I like to create stories that can be completely explained at the everyday level. Oprah: This theme that runs constantly through Fall on Your Knees, this theme of secrets.and sacrifice, where did that come from? Did that start out as being your theme?Īnn-Marie: Yes, I love secrets. Why choose the themes of secrets and sacrifice? Oprah: When you say, 'They arrived,'.They arrived where?Īnn-Marie: They arrived in my imagination. And each of them was holding an emblem the way old saints and martyrs do. And they lived as though they were standing in front of stained glass, the way saints and martyrs appear in old churches. The characters that wound up being Mercedes, Frances and Lily arrived visually. What was the spark? What was the grain for you?Īnn-Marie: It began as a play, and it began very innocently. Oprah: I find it interesting over the years talking to different authors how the pieces come together. And then the rest the world is going to provide. I don't need to have a lot in my own experience. And it comes from stories that have been percolating everywhere all the time. And the honest answer is that I don't really know.

(laughter) And she came out and gathered her thoughts.' Where did this come from?Īnn-Marie: That's such a difficult question. Oprah: As I was reading, I thought, 'This author must have spent some time in a mental institution. Where did the idea for the book come from? Read the highlights from our on-air discussion. Ann-Marie MacDonald wove a complex tale of family secrets and the lives they destroy.

Fall on your knees novel