A Thousand Tiny Truths

by Kyo Maclear

Born of an adulterous affair, ethnically ambiguous and growing up in the racially charged 1960s, life was never going to be kind to Marcel. Living with his white surrogate father, Oliver, Marcel clings to the piecemeal memories of his mother, desperate to know who his real parents are.

But the world is changing: coups, revolutions, the end of colonialism. When Oliver leaves Marcel to pursue his dream as a foreign correspondent, Marcel is set adrift in swinging London, a city of magic, of possibilities - and of devastating realities. When Marcel joins Oliver in Vietnam, and discovers the truth about his mother, his world is shattered.

Years later, when Marcel is asked to take care of eleven-year-old Iris, he is intrigued by her uncanny observations about the world. Her easy grace compels Marcel to confront the past, and to pick up the thousand small fragments that have shaped the man he has become.

A profound novel of betrayal and resurrection, A Thousand Tiny Truths asks how long can you carry the wounds of the past before moving into a wholehearted future?

266 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

Kyo Maclear is an essayist, novelist and children’s author. She was born in London, England and moved to Toronto at the age of four with her British father (a foreign correspondent and documentary filmmaker) and Japanese mother (a painter and art dealer).

Her books have been translated into eighteen languages, published in over twenty-five countries, and garnered nominations from the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the Governor General’s Literary Awards, the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Awards, the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, the National Magazine Awards, among other honours.

Unearthing: a Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets (2023) was a national bestseller and awarded the Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction. Her hybrid memoir Birds Art Life (2017) was a #1 National Bestseller and winner of the Trillium Book Award and the Nautilus Book Award for Lyrical Prose. It was named one of the best books of 2017 by The Globe and Mail, CBC, Now Magazine, the National Post, Forbes, the Chicago Review of Books, and Book Riot.

Her work has appeared in Orion Magazine, Brick, Border Crossings, The Millions, LitHub, The Volta, Prefix Photo, Resilience, The Guardian, Lion’s Roar, Azure, The Globe and Mail, and elsewhere. She has been a national arts reviewer for Canadian Art and a monthly arts columnist for Toronto Life.

Kyo holds a doctorate in environmental humanities teaches creative writing with The Humber School for Writers and the University of Guelph Creative Writing MFA.

She lives in Tkaronto/Toronto, on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the New Credit, the Haudenosaunee, Métis, and the Huron-Wendat.

Reviews

[Soph Hick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I thought it was well written, just didn't like how it was wound up towards the end.
Mind you, would make for a great movie.

[Magpie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saffron Bookclub 2015

[Jill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book depressing and boring and pointlessly long. Following the life of a severely depressed man who had a childhood without proper parents, whose surrogate father is just as depressing to read about. There's a completely unnecessary foray into a trip to Vietnam just leading up to the war. It is a very long novel, very navel gazey, and I would have preferred to read more about his life *after* the Vietnam trip, through his teenage years and through his romance with his childhood sweetheart. It would have been more interesting. Instead, there are chapters upon chapters about his relationships with his parents, to the point where it was just more of the same, over and over again. I don't recommend.

[Anne Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. An interesting and original novel, exploring themes of the lies adults tell children to protect them (and themselves) and the hurt and damage that creates when the truth surfaces. How relationships are fraught with things left unsaid and how we all try not to damage our children as we may have been damaged ourselves but fail to see patterns repeating even when circumstances change. Set in London and Saigon during the Vietnam war, the author is terrific at encapsulating the atmosphere and vibe of the time and place. Marcel's unusual story unfolds, as a boy growing up in the care of Oliver, the man his mother married but who is not his biological father. His mother has vanished and no one explains, and with his non white skin Marcel becomes acutely aware of his otherness as he grows and faces the daily looks, comments and taunts of the suspicious, xenophic England of the 50s and 60s. Oliver has his own story of abandonment having lost both his mother and father in the second world war and although he loves Marcel he is young and damanged himself and his own needs begin to take precendence. As he immerses himself in the life of a war correspondent Marcel is left behind until a crisis at home forces Oliver to take up his responsibilities again. Beautifully set in Saigon in the late 60s, the author renders well the life and sounds of the city where Marcel finds himself more at home than anywhere before. This novel traces Marcel's journey to unravel his own hurt and identity under the care of adults who are often preoccupied by their own issues. In the end his redemption comes through the intervention of a lost lover and her 12 year old daughter Iris.

This is no chic lit read... and at times it does take perseverance, but I found it very rewarding and appreciated the complex characters and their flaws. Didn't want to put it down once I picked it up.