A warm, sweet hug of a book, THE REMARKABLE TRUTHS OF ALFIE BAINS (Allen and Unwin 2025) by Sarah Clutton is narrated by the endearing, precocious and curious Irish nine-year-old Alfie Bains, who is determined to discover the reason his mother has been lying to him about his life – and whole other family – in Australia.
Until his mum Emilia’s appendix crisis (when Alfie realised the distinct lack of appropriate Irish adults to care for him during his mum’s convalescence), he had been quite happy with just the two of them. But then she takes him on an extended trip to Tasmania to meet the family he didn’t know he had. His grandmother Penny opens the door to young Alfie without knowing a thing about him, or what has happened to her daughter Emilia who has been missing for 10 years.
The small community of Beggars Rock is welcoming but also reticent and hesitant to reveal much information. Alfie has great aunts, and maybe more grandparents, but how is he to be sure when nobody, least of all his mum, will say anything? As he uncovers secrets and hidden histories, Alfie turns out to be the missing piece that just might complete this family puzzle and pull it all together again.
Alfie is an unforgettable, charming and enigmatic character. Clever, smart and emotionally intelligent, his wide-ranging interests and his expansive knowledge of factual information endear him to everyone he meets. He has all the subtle (not) and vulnerable honesty of a pre-teen; he speaks his mind and shares his theories without regard to societal norms. He walks confidently into situations and speaks his mind. He is determined to discover the truth of his identity and his history. It is his RIGHT. His forthright attitude, his forgiving and compassionate nature and his focused search for the truth defy those around him to continue to obfuscate. Gradually he befriends or gets on side everyone he meets, and begins to build bridges where before there were only great holes.
Alfie is undoubtably the hero of this story – an unforgettable, adorable child who goes where adults fear to tread. But the other characters too are quirky, interesting and layered.
The book includes some darker themes (to say too much would be to give away spoilers) but these are handled mostly indirectly and with a very light touch, so that it is not so much the darkness we see, but the effects of living without the light.
Told from the perspective of a few different characters, and in two different time frames, the novel jumps between Alfie’s life now, and the history of his parents and other relations 10 years’ earlier. This provides a lovely balance between what we know now and what we suspect happened then. The story contains a mystery that is sustained until the final pages, with a satisfying resolution.
Themes include self-identity, family conflict, secrets, judgement, betrayal, forgiveness, friendship, grief and reconnection, all seen through the eyes of a curious boy. Life-affirming, funny, bittersweet, tender and moving, the story has plenty of hilarious dialogue and situations to keep you laughing, and enough moral questions and choices to propel the narrative at a cracking pace. Alfie Bains is a character to remember.