“A sweet coming-of-age story . . . but Christie goes further, adding to the mix a Hardy Boys-style mystery about bootlegged alcohol, pet wolves that never forget a human scent, and generally shady goings-on in abandoned grain elevators . . . Compelling.” —The Globe and Mail

Will can’t remember ever going Outside. He lives happily and safely inside his small house with his eccentric, agoraphobic mother. Their world inside is rich and loving, with rooms named after cities they’ve never visited and art supplies stacked in towers. But Will’s thirst for adventure can’t be contained; he’s eleven years old and curiosity is its own kind of gravity.

Clad in a protective helmet, Will ventures Outside. Soon he meets Jonah, who shows him the thrills of skateboarding and becomes his first real friend. When a boy goes missing, Jonah and Will set off to solve his disappearance, and when the Outside becomes the dangerous version of the world his mother warned him about, Will must decide if the wonderment is worth the risk.

Part mystery, part bildungsroman, If I Fall, If I Die is a tender yet propulsive story told at the collision point between innocence and the world’s hard edges. Luminous, surprising, and keenly observed, this is a novel about mothers and sons, family and friendship, fears and uncertainties, and about what it truly means to be alive.