(courtesy Allen & Unwin Australia)
Uncorrected proof of The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains provided by Allen & Unwin via Better Reading in return for an honest and objective review; the novel releases 29 April 2025.
It goes without saying that if a novel is to truly capture your heart, that it must have, amongst other non-negotiables, rich and fully-formed characters who feel as if they are palpably real before you.
That’s because we are people-oriented people and while a narrative can be all-encompassing and the premise imaginatively rich, if the characters don’t strike a chord then the rest of the novel might as well be non-existent.
Thankfully, The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains by Sarah Clutton is one of those novels that bursts off the page with highly relatable humanity, sparkling dialogue and thoughtful empathy, all of those superlative qualities the preserve of characters who are so relatably real that it’s hard not to embrace them near instantly.
The character who wins your heart with effortless ease and brutally heartwarming honesty is the nine-year-old titular protagonist who approaches his heartfelt mission to identify and meet his dad with a refreshing, if often messy, disregard for the emotional politics of a fraught situation.
Given most, if not all readers, will be well-versed in the politics of not upsetting the apple cart and shaking the status quo, in and under which many a secret sits in a place of collective hiding and “don’t ask, don’t tell”-ness, the crash-or-crash-through technique of Alfie, which comes from an entirely good and understandable place, is almost exhilarating in its willingness not to bow to imprisoning and suffocating social niceties.
So, even though Mum probably didn’t lie about my paternity, I think the best thing to do is keep those thoughts to myself. And to keep my ear to the wall. (Not a final quote; sourced from a supplied uncorrected proof).
One impressive aspect of Clutton’s near-faultless and emotionally rich writing style is that whatever the merits and understandable concerns of Alfie’s role in the story, people like his single mother Emilia and her estranged mother Penny are never presented as caricatured adult baddies for Alfie to overcome.
In fact, the richness of The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains stems from the way it places everyone in entirely relatable positions, such that no one is at fault, and everyone involved in Alfie’s quest to figure out who he is in totality, are simply presented as flawed people who tried to do their best and made some mistakes, some bigger and more consequential than others.
This equalising of peoples’ emotional culpability doesn’t leach one iota of arresting emotional involvement from a novel which keeps the tension taut and intact, and the mysteries swirling and fomenting while taking everyone closer to some sort of resolution.
Well, as close to a resolution as life lets you which, as we all know, is far from neatly tied up with a big red bow and which often feels like a gaping wound cover over with a bandage.
The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains offers a lot more closure than that fortunately, but it is also respectful of the emotional untidiness of life and how even when things get resolved, the pain of the past and its cosequential effect on all the parties involved, never really goes away.
(courtesy official author site)
As far as past pain is concerned, The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains has a lot of it to unpack, sort out and put away (again not tidily and, rewardingly, with an empathetic nod to the messiness of the human condition).
Set in the town of Beggars Rock, Tasmania – a stand-in for the town of Stanley as the author explains in her highly informative “Author’s note” – The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains sees Emilia taking Alfie, with some trepidation after she fled her hometown roughly a decade earlier, back to Tasmania from the only home he’s ever known in Dublin, Ireland.
Ferociously intelligent, perternaturally mature, and possibly neurodivergent (though that is never explicitly codified), Alfie is a confronting delight from start to finish.
And by “confronting” we don’t mean in any kind of malicious or awful way; Alfie is simply unblinkingly and startlingly honest, saying the sorts of things that well-trained adults would never dare utter, even though deep down, they desperately want to and relish the idea of the existential freedom that might bring.
It’s his honesty, which connects the dot of the probable path forward with laser-sharp precision – though not, it should be noted, with more adult considerations of how feelings might be hurt and worlds upended, and without recognition, much of the time, of the emotional fallout that might be generated by his actions – that unsettles almost everyone, used as they are to the polite games we all play to keep the painful shards of reality comfortably at bay.
Alfie cares not for these social niceties, and it’s his approach to just simply getting things solved, and for really touching emotional and logical reasons, that beautifully informs the narrative and impact of The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains.
I decide it was a slip of Mum’s tongue about all the potential fathers. ‘Good idea.’ I keep my face normal, pretending I am not excited. Sometimes successful parent-child interactions are like poker. You can’t acknowledge when you’re winning, or you might blow the whole thing up. (Not a final quote; sourced from a supplied uncorrected proof).
While Alfie sets out to find his dad, and thinks that will be the greatest discovery of his all-consuming mission, what he really uncovers is how layered and hidden so much of what goes on in life is.
As he digs into what happened to his mum all those years ago, he finds out that everyone involved has secrets, and that behind the facade of seemingly happy families and a cosy country town, lies some very real and lingering pain, the kind that people sweep under the carpet out of emotional necessity but which never really goes away and which never lessens its painful grip on those it affects.
Delightful in so many ways, and full of the richness and warmth of family and bonds restored and hopes rekindled, The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains beautifully balances the pain of the past, and the mysteries it contains, with the potential healing and answer-giving of the present and how that may all play out into a brighter and happier future.
Getting there is nowhere near as easy as Alfie naively thinks, and stepped in pain and huge consequences for everyone in his family and those in close, long-time orbit, but as it approaches what that future might look like, The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains tells a richly rewarding and wholly captivating story of what was, what is and what might yet be, brought alive by characters who make this a novel you can give your heart to and be eternally happy you did.