{"product_id":"girls-fall-down-paperback","title":"Girls Fall Down - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMaggie Helwig\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePoison? Paranoia?: this 2008 novel of love and fear is more relevant than ever\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA girl faints in the Toronto subway. Her friends are taken to the hospital with unexplained rashes; they complain about a funny smell in the subway. Swarms of police arrive, and then the hazmat team. Panic ripples through the city, and words like \u003ci\u003epoisoning \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eterrorism \u003c\/i\u003ebecome airborne. Soon, people are collapsing all over the city in subways and streetcars and malls.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlex was witness to this first episode. He's a photographer: of injuries and deaths, for his job at the hospital, and of life, in his evening explorations of the city. Alex's sight is failing, and as he rushes to capture his vision of Toronto on film, he encounters an old girlfriend - the one who shattered his heart in the eighties, while she was fighting for abortion rights and social justice and he was battling his body's chemical demons. But now Susie-Paul is in the midst of her own crisis: her schizophrenic brother is missing, and the streets of Toronto are more hostile than ever.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMaggie Helwig, author of the critically lauded \u003ci\u003eEncampment\u003c\/i\u003e, has fashioned a novel not of bold actions but of small gestures, showing how easy and gentle is the slide into paranoia, and how enormous and terrifying is the slide into love.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMaggie Helwig\u003c\/b\u003e (she\/they) is a white settler in Tkaronto\/Toronto, and is the author of fifteen books and chapbooks, including \u003ci\u003eEncampment: Resistance, Grace, and an Unhoused Community\u003c\/i\u003e, which was awarded the 2025 Toronto Book Award, \u003ci\u003eInstructions for the End of the World: Homilies of Comfort and Resistance\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eGirls Fall Down\u003c\/i\u003e, which was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award and chosen as the One Book Toronto in 2012. Helwig is a long-time social justice activist, and also an Anglican priest, and has been the rector of the Church of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields since 2013.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 248\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 8.4 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 13, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67564476727545,"sku":"9781552455326","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/7rP1Wz7tvj9781552455326.webp?v=1793512254","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/girls-fall-down-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}