Book review: The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains by Sarah Clutton

The upcoming release listing for The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains by Sarah Clutton compared it to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and so I BEGGED for a copy. Well, I politely requested one and my wish was granted. But, it offered even more than Eleanor because a significant part of the book is written from the point-of-view of almost ten-year old Alfie and I ADORE books written from a kid’s pov. This reverence kicked off with Room, then almost everything by Favel Parrett and Trent Dalton, not to mention Eye of the Sheep, Be Frank With Me, Allegra in Three Parts, The Family String, Lost & Found, and the list goes on. In fact I have a half-written post about books written from children’s povs and I should resurrect it.

Alfie's mum, Emilia, has been lying to him forever.

It's only ever been the two of them in Ireland, but when Emilia's appendix explodes, she drops a bombshell: she has a family back in Australia and she and Alfie are going to meet them.

When Penny Bains opens the door of her Tasmanian farmhouse to a boy with an Irish accent claiming to be the son of her missing daughter, Emilia, her life is turned upside down.

Alfie needs to know who his father is, but the residents of the tiny town of Beggars Rock and his newly found cousin and great-aunts are all staying silent. As Alfie starts to uncover secrets that his family would prefer to keep buried, the one thing he discovers is that no one is willing to tell him the truth.

This offers several narrators, with Penny initially playing the hosting role as we meet her first when she’s surprised by a visit from her estranged daughter Emilia and an almost ten-year old grandson she didn’t know existed. We learn that Emilia left Beggars Rock without a backward glance, leaving behind her husband Julian and widowed mother (Penny). We’re introduced to Penny’s sisters and her niece Harper. We also meet Cynthia who’s unhappily married to the popular town doctor and who’s suffered personal tragedies and viewed by locals as standoffish. She’s also Emilia’s former mother-in-law and seemingly Alfie’s paternal grandmother.

And then there’s neurodivergent Alfie who’s obsessed with statistics and information. Delightfully so and wonderfully quirky. Despite not entirely being conscious of social cues he’s observant and unfailingly polite. His narration includes “Interesting facts about Tasmania and cancer and rectums”, later a Venn diagram highlighting the intersection between what makes a good father with what makes a good husband (buying chocolates and visiting science museums); and a letter to the woman who runs the post office recommending she invest in geothermal ground source heat pumps to provide more efficient heating and reduce impacts on climate change. Clutton writes him brilliantly.

My research says that the first sign of puberty for males is that your testicles get bigger. I have not noticed this yet, but maybe there is a device to measure such things. If I had access to my father, he would know about this. He would carve out precious time from his work schedule to go on father-son puberty discussion walks on the beach with me, while Mum made the picnic to take to a prearranged location for afterwards. I found another study that said boys who grow up with a single mother tend to get lower grades at university. Ergo, the blueprint for prevention of university failure is finding my father.

Living with so many concerns about my future is exhausting. pp 285-286

We go back and forth in time to the lead-up to Emilia’s disappearance, and Clutton paces this well, eking out detail just as we need it. We learn Emilia’s husband Julian wasn’t the local golden boy he was believed to be, and that he and his twin brothers were inextricably linked to Emilia and Harper. I was initially worried I’d correctly guessed Alfie’s parentage prematurely but ultimately that’s not really much of a secret and this is more about families and relationships than secrets. It’s about regret, guilt and loss. It’s a beautiful novel and I adored the time I spent with Alfie who Clutton brings to life brilliantly. And yes there were many tears but ultimately they were bittersweet ones.

The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains by Sarah Clutton was published in Australia by Allen & Unwin.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.