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Nothing in Truth Can Harm Us
Eva’s dad is dead. Her mother isn’t, but ought to be, says Aunt Mathilde. Time to move on . . .
Moving from Nova Scotia, Eva tries not to care. She’s already dropped out of school and is washing dishes for a living. Despite her aunt’s encouragement, she can’t speak French, the mother tongue of her Acadian family, but Mathilde insists they have to go to Montreal—now.
Mathilde has provided reluctant care for her niece for more than a decade, despite the fact that she hates her sister so much, even her name is banned in her presence. Mathilde spends her evenings drinking and writing love letters to a long-gone man, dreaming of what might have been.
An old photograph of a happy seven-year-old with dimples is taped to the wall by Gaby’s bunk in the Nova Institute for Women. With her parole hearing weeks away, Gaby doesn’t have any plans or hopes for a future outside of prison beyond to find her daughter.
Whether it is on the French Shore, Truro or Montreal, all three women can’t escape the spectre of Adam, Eva’s charming, dead father, and the unspoken memories of blood and loss.
Moving from Nova Scotia, Eva tries not to care. She’s already dropped out of school and is washing dishes for a living. Despite her aunt’s encouragement, she can’t speak French, the mother tongue of her Acadian family, but Mathilde insists they have to go to Montreal—now.
Mathilde has provided reluctant care for her niece for more than a decade, despite the fact that she hates her sister so much, even her name is banned in her presence. Mathilde spends her evenings drinking and writing love letters to a long-gone man, dreaming of what might have been.
An old photograph of a happy seven-year-old with dimples is taped to the wall by Gaby’s bunk in the Nova Institute for Women. With her parole hearing weeks away, Gaby doesn’t have any plans or hopes for a future outside of prison beyond to find her daughter.
Whether it is on the French Shore, Truro or Montreal, all three women can’t escape the spectre of Adam, Eva’s charming, dead father, and the unspoken memories of blood and loss.
236 pages, Paperback
First published August 15, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 29, 2023
A triumph with filmic vividness. I was gripped from the very beginning and found myself looking for any chance I got to read it. Though related by blood, Mathilde, Gaby and Eva are very different women. I enjoyed growing with them, as well as following them through some of their demises. One of the best books I’ve read this year, if not THE best.
July 26, 2026
I generally love Canadian fiction, especially when it has ties to the Maritimes, so I was really excited to pick this one up. It follows three women whose lives are forever connected by a tragedy years earlier. After her father's death, Eva is forced to leave Nova Scotia for Montreal with her aunt Mathilde, while her estranged mother Gaby prepares for parole after years in prison. As their stories slowly come together, the novel explores family, grief, guilt, and the lasting impact of the past.
Unfortunately, this one just didn't work for me. There were so many storylines and character arcs that felt like they were building toward something, only to never really be addressed. It left the ending feeling unsatisfying, and not in a way that felt intentional.
There was also a lot of French dialogue throughout the book. I understood why it was there given the Acadian and Montreal settings, but as an English speaker I found it jarring to have so much untranslated French in an otherwise English novel. Overall, I just couldn't connect with this one, and I wouldn't recommend it.
Unfortunately, this one just didn't work for me. There were so many storylines and character arcs that felt like they were building toward something, only to never really be addressed. It left the ending feeling unsatisfying, and not in a way that felt intentional.
There was also a lot of French dialogue throughout the book. I understood why it was there given the Acadian and Montreal settings, but as an English speaker I found it jarring to have so much untranslated French in an otherwise English novel. Overall, I just couldn't connect with this one, and I wouldn't recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews