Ottawa in the 70s is a developing city, ripe for the taking. Two men, from different ends of society, see the opportunities - Jerry McGuinty, plasterer-turned-builder, a simple, self-made man, and Simon Struthers, whose inherited wealth and position cannot fill the hollowness inside.

Set in an exclusive boarding school for the children of Canada's elite, this is the story of Noel, a loner who fills his spare hours body-building, and the object of his desire, Fall. Noel watches Fall, always knowing where she is and who she is talking to, until he senses that the time has come for him to enter Fall's life forever.

In his highly acclaimed debut novel, Colin McAdam depicts the struggle between two men involved in building a city's future: developer Jerry McGuinty, blue collar, selfmade, a master craftsman, and Simon Struthers, a civil servant from a prominent, wealthy background who shapes land-use policy. Jerry has a blind spot for his alcoholic wife, and Simon moves between women, consumed by a frantic emptiness. When their two stories begin to intertwine, their lives and ambitions are set on a collision course. A richly observed story of family, class, love and the individual contributions we make to...

Award-winning author Colin McAdam s second novel takes place at St. Ebury, an elite Ottawa boarding school. It s a place of privilege and hollow rules, of newly minted traditions and the barely restrained animal instincts of the boys. A handful of girls are also in attendance, among them Fall, a beautiful and elusive figure who becomes the object of fascination for many of the male students, including Noel, a smart, intensely idiosyncratic young man. But Fall ends up dating his roommate Julius, the charismatic son of the American ambassador, whom Noel also fixates upon. Amidst a heady mix of...