The Story of Us

by Catherine Hernandez

From the author of Canada Reads finalist Scarborough , a stunning new novel about the unbreakable bond of family and the magic that can happen when we meet in the middle Like many Overseas Filipino Workers, Mary Grace Concepcion has lived a life of sacrifices. First, she left her husband, Ale, to be a caregiver in Hong Kong. Now, she has travelled even farther, to Canada, in the hopes of one day sponsoring Ale and having children of their own. But when she arrives in Toronto, she must navigate a series of bewildering and careless employers and unruly children. Mary Grace seeks new employment as a Personal Support Worker and begins caring for Liz, an elderly patient suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, whose health is as fragile as her rundown bungalow beside the Rouge River in Scarborough. While Mary Grace’s time with her charge challenges her conservative beliefs, she soon becomes Liz’s biggest ally, and the friendship that grows between them will turn out to be just as legendary as Liz’s past. Beautifully narrated by the all-seeing eye of Mary Grace’s newborn baby, The Story of Us is a novel about sisterhood, about blood and chosen family, and about how belonging can be found where we least expect it.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Book Club, Contemporary, LGBT, Queer, Literary Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2023

About the author

Catherine Hernandez (she/her) is an award-winning author and screenwriter. She is a proud queer woman who is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian descent and married into the Navajo Nation. Her first novel, Scarborough, won the Jim Wong-Chu Award for the unpublished manuscript; was a finalist for the Toronto Book Awards, the Evergreen Forest of Reading Award, the Edmund White Award, and the Trillium Book Award; and was longlisted for Canada Reads. She has written the critically acclaimed plays Singkil, The Femme Playlist and Eating with Lola and the children’s books M Is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book and I Promise. She recently wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Scarborough, which is currently in post-production by Compy Films with support from Telefilm Canada and Reel Asian Film Festival. She is the creator of Audible Original’s audio sketch comedy series Imminent Disaster. Her second novel, Crosshairs, published simultaneously in Canada and the US and the UK this spring, made the CBC's Best Canadian Fiction, NOW Magazine's 10 Best Books, Indigo Best Book, Audible Best Audiobooks and NBC 20 Best LGBTQ Books list of 2020. Her third children's book, Where Do Your Feelings Live? which is a guide for kids living through these scary times, has been commissioned by HarperCollins Canada and will be published in winter 2022.

Reviews

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Story of Us is a stunning and emotional story told from the unique viewpoint of a newborn baby.

Mary Grace “MG” Concepcion left her husband in the Philippines to become an Overseas Filipino Worker. First, she goes to Hong Kong and then to Canada. On both continents, MG works as a nanny for several wealthy families who take advantage of her. But she does it all with the intention of one day sponsoring her husband to join her in Canada.

After her latest position ends, MG becomes a Personal Support Worker for Liz, an elderly trans woman who has Alzheimer’s disease. Initially, caring for Liz challenges MG’s very conservative beliefs. But the friendship these two women form is a thing of beauty.

MG’s newborn baby narrates this story directly to Liz. The second-person voice took a minute to adjust to, but it fits really well with this story. The writing flows nicely.

The Story of Us will take the reader on an emotional roller coaster. I felt MG’s loneliness, rage, happiness and hope while reading this.

MG’s initial attitude toward Liz was hard to read. But the bond they eventually formed was so heartwarming and uplifting.

It’s early in the year, but this book might be a contender for a new favourite. I need to read the author’s other books immediately.

CW: SA, transphobia.

Thank you to HarperCollins Canada for providing an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I’d owned this book for a while, I had no plans to read it until my GR friend, Alan, claimed it was his “favourite Canadian read of 2023”. Well, I read a lot of CanLit and I’d just declared Michelle Porter’s A Grandmother Begins the Story to be my favourite read of 2023—Canadian or otherwise! So I had to read The Story of Us for myself…

In an odd twist, it’s beautifully narrated by the fetus—and once born, the newborn child—of the main character, Mary Grace (called MG). Living in Manila where jobs were scarce, MG felt the best thing she could do was register as an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) so she could work and send money back home to help support her husband and his family. Her first contract was as a Nanny for a spoiled little boy in Hong Kong. Later, she flew to Canada where a neurotic Toronto wife hired her to care for her 4-year-old daughter and 6-month-old son. MG was instructed to “mostly ignore” the baby so she could focus all her attention on the 4-year-old whose nose had been out of joint since the baby’s arrival. This part was so utterly dysfunctional I found it difficult to read!! Not long after, she was desperate again to find work, when fate placed her inside a Filipino shop when a man and his elderly mother dropped by with a “Caregiver Wanted” poster for the shop window. Once the man left, the storekeeper threw the ad in the trash as he shared his distaste for that bakla (a Filipino term for a cross-dressing male). MG fished out the ad when his back was turned, and quickly left the shop.

And that’s how MG came to care for the ill and ageing transgender female, Liz, in a ramshackle home backing onto the Rouge River in Scarborough. Here the story really ramps up but I’m going to stop here to avoid spoilers. But it's SO INCREDIBLY GOOD!!!

The Story of Us is creative—like nothing I’ve read before. And it’s thoroughly enjoyable, but then so was A Grandmother Begins the Story. So, what’s the verdict? I'm sorry, Alan. I’ve decided to call it a tie! They’re both so absolutely wonderful that it’s impossible for me to choose one over the other. I recommend both these books very highly and suggest you read them BOTH!

5 “Families-Need-Only-Share-Love, Not Blood” stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Alan (on December semi-hiatus) Teder · Rating 5 out of 5]

September 15, 2024 Update Author Catherine Hernandez is in discussion about the book tonight at the Amnesty Canada Book Club. Discussion Guide for The Story of Us available here (link opens to a pdf file).

Baby, I Love Your Way*
Review of the HarperAvenue paperback edition, released simultaneously with the Harper eBook & audiobook (February 28, 2023).

“I don’t truly know what life is like for you, but I imagine in your line of work, people don’t often see you as a human being with needs and feelings, am I right? But you deserve to be treated with respect. It’s the same with Liz. She deserves to be seen as a person. The more you get to know her, the better this arrangement can be.”

The Matryoshka (матрёшка) (Russian: Nesting dolls) in the cover design of The Story of Us hint at the family saga of its plot but also at the surprising narrator at its heart. This narrator is so unorthodox that I want to stress that you should persist with the novel even though it will strike you as extremely odd at the very beginning. I won't bury the lede any further, the story starts off as being narrated by an unfertilized egg in the future womb of its main character Mary Grace (known as MG) as she is being born by her mother (i.e. the grandmother of the egg that is).

You have to relax and just go with this new take on the omniscient narrator, who disappears at many stages of the story, but does return again and again, as a fertilized egg, a fetus and finally as a newborn. You'll finally forgive its bizarre nature and even begin to love its viewpoint when it expresses itself:

I wanted so badly to take my first breath, to be photographed, fawned over. To have my cheeks pinched. To be punished for doing things I wasn’t supposed to do, touching things I wasn’t supposed to touch. To be measured against a wall, year after year. To grow taller. To be cheered on every time I learned something new. I wanted that. Could you blame me?
...
As my cells multiplied, I made some plans. I dared to plan. I planned on riding a bike. Having a first kiss. Learning how to play an instrument. Being the first person to dance at every party. Taking my time to look at sunsets. Waking up early to look at sunrises. Finding a best friend. Even the bad stuff, I wanted so badly. The death of a pet. First heartbreak. Second heartbreak. Broken bones. Needles. Arguments. Oh! The arguments I was going to have with people! We would shout at each other. Then make up. I could not wait for my life to begin.
...
Ash was in tears. Ma was in tears. But I barely cried. I looked right at her, this woman I knew so well. This woman I have watched for ages through time, through natural disasters, through death, through heartache, through pleasure and pain. I looked right at her.

The narrator sub-plot is of course incidental to the main story which is how caregiver Mary Grace becomes an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) in order to support her relatives back home in the Philippines. After a placement in Hong Kong, she eventually immigrates to Canada and after a few more jobs eventually meets the senior Liz, the other main character of the story. Liz is an elderly trans woman with Alzheimer's living in a somewhat rundown home in Scarborough by the Rouge River, owned by an off-putting son who visits rarely.

Both MG and Liz are "the other", people often ignored or "not seen" by people in the community. The bond of caring and love that grows between them is often traumatic and heartbreaking but it is also beautiful and caring in a unique way which describes how chosen family can exceed the bonds of blood family. Though there is drama and tension aplenty there are wonderful moments of humour and insight into both Filipino and Canadian ways and habits.

Ma cheered and slapped their arm. Ash recoiled in shock. Ma had forgotten how Canadians don’t hit each other on the arm when overwhelmed by happiness the way Filipinos do. They usually offer a tepid “yay!” and keep their hands to themselves.

I read The Story of Us through being introduced to it at the 2023 Lakefield Literary Festival. I would go so far as to say that it is my top favourite Canadian novel read of 2023 to date (late August 2023 as I write this).


Author Catherine Hernandez (centre) in discussion with moderator John Boyko (left) and author Iain Reid (We Spread (2022)) at the 2023 Lakefield Literary Festival, Canada.

Footnote & Soundtrack
* I often select the lede for a review based on an associated idea or reference and this time the quirky narrator of The Story of Us made me think of Peter Frampton's song Baby, I Love Your Way from the classic Frampton Comes Alive! (1976) album.
Peter Frampton explains the background to writing the song and plays it on the Howard Stern radio show in 2019 which you can watch here.

Other Reviews
Book blurb: "Catherine Hernandez has written a book that will make you feel as though your heart has grown twice the size once you put it down. A Filipina woman's life story is narrated from the perspective of her future unborn fetus in achingly beautiful, lyrical and astonishing prose... An extraordinary portrayal of the powers of chosen families, told with profound pathos, wonderful humour. It is a story of a modern Canadian family and its marvelous incarnations and offers an explosive commentary on the power of acceptance and inclusion as a path towards happiness." by Heather O'Neill.
The Story of Us forces us to witness the structures of Canada's immigration system by Huda Hassan, The Globe and Mail, April 7, 2023.

Trivia and Link
Read an introduction to & an excerpt from the book at CBC Books November 28, 2022.
Read an interview with author Catherine Hernandez at CBC's The Next Chapter Q&A by Nikki Manfredi, CBC, March 10, 2023.

[George Ilsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gosh, somehow I expected more from this author.

What I didn't like: The conceit of writing from the perspective of an unborn baby didn't work for me. This idea was famously explored in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman which was published in 1760. The voice in Sterne's book is witty and satirical.

In the story of US, I never could see what the point was with the baby. And then it gets worse, with the character Liz being referred to as "you." I tripped over these sentences so many times, and that threw me out of the story.

And Liz — an elder suffering from dementia. I realize the expression of dementia comes and goes, but in this story, it very conveniently went away whenever the plot asked something of this character; for example, at the baby shower, Liz is the DJ. At times "Liz" felt like a foil, rather than a real character.

What I liked: I appreciated hearing about MG, the Philipina and her life. It's a hard life, working in a foreign country, and being away from family and loved ones. For me, the story only started when MG went to Hong Kong to start working as a nanny.

We see how MG and other people react to Liz, first described as a "bakla" but one has to google to find out more about the word, the history of that word, the various meanings and how it has evolved in post-colonial times in the Philippines. Perhaps more could have been given to the reader inside the novel?

It's a challenging novel, and well-written, but perhaps is trying too hard to make a dish with too many ingredients. Somehow I feel a more straightforward story about MG and her struggles as a nanny / PSW would have been more revelatory.

[Kelly (miss_kellysbookishcorner) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: The Story of Us
Author: Catherine Hernandez
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: February 28, 2022

Thank you to Harper Collins Canada for sending me physical ARC in exchange for an honest review. #Gifted #Ad

T H R E E • W O R D S

Inventive • Powerful • Hopeful

📖 S Y N O P S I S

The Story of Us follows Mary Grace Concepcion's life of sacrifice. From leaving her husband behind in the Philippines to be a caregiver in Hong Kong to eventually travelling to Canada with the hope of a better future.

When MG arrives in Toronto, she must endure a series of privileged employers and their children. One day she comes across an ad for a Personal Support Worker, and begins caring for Liz, an elderly patients living with Alzheimer's disease. It's her time with Liz that will challenge MG's conservative beliefs, and lead to the most unlikely of friendships.

💭 T H O U G H T S

Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez was one of my most surprising and memorable reads of 2022, so it'll come as no surprise that The Story of Us was one of my most anticipated reads for 2023.

Told from such a unique perspective - starting from an unfertilized egg, moving to a fetus, and finally to a newborn - which definitely took some getting used to. However, it was unlike anything else I've ever read and offered such an interesting point of view. There's no denying the author's creativity and talent with emotionally charged writing, and her characters have so much depth and growth.

The pacing was a bit slow to begin with, but my interest really piqued once MG made it to Canada. For me, it is the second half of the story (her time with Liz) that really shone. I appreciated how MG's world views were expanded from her experience. The author also gives incredible insight into caregiver life.

The Story of Us is an emotional rollercoaster filled with struggles and triumphs. Most importantly it's a story of mothers, of sacrifice, of found family, of community, and unlikely friendship. I could definitely see this book turned into a stage production, and I cannot wait to see what Catherine Hernandez delivers next.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• Canlit fans
• readers looking for an immigrant POV
• anyone looking for a Queer Pride read

⚠️ CW: homophobia, transphobia, deadnaming, miscarriage, infidelity, divorce, dementia, sexual assault

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"What I can promise you is this: there are Maybe Babies inside of me now, witnessing you, the light of you, and there are Maybe Babies inside of them that will keep your legacy alive well after your last breath."

"They are waiting for you and will welcome you when you are ready."

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely. Brilliant.

Through this story, Catherine Hernandez honors the Trans community, LGBTQ2IA+ activists and heroes, the Overseas Fililinx Workers community, the Filiinx community as a whole, Mothers, and the countless invaluable Found Families that see and hold us when the rest of the world turns its back.

This book made me both cherish and resent humanity a little more, in the true Catherine Hernandez fashion. I raged, I wept, I was swept away in waves of gratitude and awe in how frightening and beautiful this little life of ours can be.

Written from the perspective of an infant, an unborn child, and even an unfertilized egg (a Maybe Baby) - waiting for their own life to unfold from the moment of their mother's conception until after their birth.. This was one of the most uniquely narrated books I've ever read.

This story made me want to hug my mom, and learn more about everything she's been through to make a life for me here in Canada, like so many other first gen Filipinx children I know and have met. So many of us have our mothers to thank. We will never understand what it felt like, and the reality of what they sacrificed for us. This book builds bridges toward greater understanding.

MG, Liz, and Ash were such MAGNIFICENT characters. They had my heart so completely, I never wanted to let go. Truly, like, I can't even speak to the colour and depth and kindness and humour and radiance and compassion that spilled out of these characters at every turn. I literally could not read the words on the page through the torrential downpour of tears that kept hitting me, out of every colour of emotion I could have felt.

An unforgettable read. I'm tucking this one into a very tender part of my heart forever.

The Story of Us is really, just that. It's the story of how, no matter how alone in this world we may feel, the ones who came before us are with us still. It's a love letter to our ancestors. It's a monument to all of the incredible individuals and communities that stood up against hate and fear and injustice with an undying hope that those after them, wouldn't have to. It's the story of our togetherness, and how powerful that really is.

A heartfelt 5 stars out of 5. Please add to your to-read list folks.

Thank you SO MUCH to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my usual fare, this was a workplace book club selection. I voted for it out of the presented options. Having worked with many Filipinos and having lived some years in Scarborough, the book description was appealing.

As a reader of primarily fantasy and other speculative fiction, I often found myself noticing how normal this book was. Like, it's about normal people having normal experiences. It was weird.

It was perhaps too normal. It's realistic, and can be illuminating in presenting the life of a Filipina care worker, both as a child and later taking shitty jobs abroad to support her family back home. I don't doubt the authenticity of the experience at all, and I learned new things about life for people like the main character. At the same time the work situations she found herself in felt like caricatures, caring for awful children under the strict direction of stereotypes of awful mothers in near-slave labour conditions. It was a bit of misery porn with plenty of Philippines food porn mixed in.

The POV is strange. The story is told from the perspective of one of the main characters' ova. At the book's outset it has been fertilized and delivered as an infant, but for most of the book it dwells in "Ma"'s ovary, experiencing her life. It gets weirder because the narration is directed to one of Ma's charges, a trans woman with Alzheimer's dementia named Liz who doesn't appear in the story until half-way through the book. So, for the first half the story of Ma or MG (Mary Grace) is essentially a third-person account, but then it becomes second-person once Liz enters the picture and Ma's newborn baby directs the story to Liz, recounting events from when the narrator was still an ova-turned-embryo, although it's still all about Ma.

It's a unique POV, but I don't feel it added much to the story, except to push a theme of spiritual generational continuity, a theme with only a light impact on the book. And it's a confusing POV because of course Liz can't receive it (because it's just coming from a baby who's not actually communicating with her) and I'm not sure what the point of telling Liz this story is. There's no indication they continue to have a relationship after the narrator's birth. I have a lot of questions about what happens after the end of the book that feed my lack of clarity on the purpose of the POV. Will Ma and her infant continue to live in this decaying, mold-ridden, leaky-roofed house? Liz's story is pretty much done at the end of the book, with a cap on her legacy, and there's no story reason why she couldn't die of worsening disease shortly afterwards. From a practical perspective the choice of POV doesn't make much sense, and from a literary sense it was, not quite underwhelming, but at best merely whelming.

Seriously, the POV and all its interjections of its own experience as a "Maybe Baby" and occasionally as an infant made me think all too often of the opening sequences of Look Who's Talking. I couldn't find a good gif of that so here's an alternative:



It was the kind of book that, half-way through, I turned to the back cover endorsements to see what the prevailing praise for the book was. It wasn't that it was bad, just that it was plain, with plain prose throughout and typical, predictable character experiences. It succeeds at presenting the challenges common in the lives of members of a specific group, it was simply unexciting. The back cover blurbs highlighted the strength of the relationship that Ma and Liz would form and other things. This, too, once I read it all, was not as strong as advertised. It was mildly interesting but again kind of typical and predictable.

Of course, I doubt I'll find any other books about the intersection of 1990s/2000s queer culture and the lives of Filipinx care workers abroad, told from the point of view of an egg, so it has that going for it. Many elements unique to literature, if not unique to lived experience, but

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Story of Us affirms our connection to our ancestors, our biological and chosen families (blood is thicker than water, but so is a milkshake”) and humanity in all forms, both good and bad.

MG (Mary Grace) travels from the Philippines to Canada as an Overseas Filipino Worker, supporting her family back home. It’s such vulnerable position, ripe for exploitation. The dangling carrot is that after 2yrs of employment, OFW’s may be permitted to bring immediate family members over to join them. So in the meantime, and employers know it, it’s shut up and put up.

Amidst these harsh realities, The Story of Us is intimate and tender. MG is unseen by many, but in Hernandez’s skilled hands, she is a hero. Liz, an elderly trans woman, cared for by MG, is a warrior in Hernandez’s caring hands.

Between this novel and her previous, Scarborough, is there a more compassionate writer? I don’t think so! Thank you Catherine Hernandez for championing unsung heroes and expanding our hearts.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm. Parts of this I loved. Sometimes it felt like it was trying too hard. Anyway, the baby as the narrator thing didn’t work for me. So that probably coloured my perspective. The characters were well drawn though and I legitimately cared about them. 3.5 stars.

[Brie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Story of Us by Catherine Hernandez was one of those books I went into pretty blindly and then was so happy I read it. Even if the oddness of the narrator (a fetus at first and then a newborn baby), was weird at times and took me a bit to get used to at the beginning. But my friends, persevere because this story is worth it!

Our main character, Mary Grace (MG), is a young woman from the Philippines who makes the ultimate sacrifice for her husband and family by first moving to Hong Kong to be a nanny and then on to Canada where she finds herself applying to be a Personal Support Worker for Liz, an elderly trans woman with Alzheimer’s disease.

Once MG starts working for Liz, a beautiful story starts to unfold. One in which a very conservative MG, forced to challenge her own beliefs, finds compassion and friendship from the people she least expected. The cast of characters in this book were just wonderful - from MG (a hero in her own sense), to Liz (an activist with an incredibly interesting past), to Ash (probably my favourite of them all) - and had me not wanting this book to end.

I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book that focuses on the first hand experience of an “OFW” (Overseas Filipino Worker) and if you haven’t either, you need to read this book. In a country where OFWs are common, I think it’s so easy to not even think about the hurdles they must overcome or how often they are taken advantage of because of their powerlessness. I know this is fiction, but some of the situations MG had to experience are clearly true for someone out there. And I love that this book honours overseas workers and gives them a voice.

There’s so much love, kindness and hope in this story. It’s tender and raw and so very honest. There are moments that are hard to read about. There are people you want to punch in the face. But overall, The Story of Us is a great reminder that sometimes we need to get uncomfortable to get comfortable, and that sometimes, blood isn’t thicker than water, and family can be comprised of who you choose, not dictated by blood alone.

Thank you to Harper Collins for the arc for review.

[Jodie (That Happy Reader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from the Publisher by the thoughts and opinions expressed here are may own. Despite receiving no further renumeration for this review other than the ARC, the publisher requests I also inform the reader of #Paid #Ad #Sponsored.

This was such an interesting and educational read. The story is told from the perspective of a newborn baby and recounts the story of his mother’s life from the Philippines to Hong Kong and later to Canada.

Mary Grace (MG) is the baby’s mother. MG is a married woman who wants to have a better life than what she currently has with her husband and extended family. She takes a job as a nanny in Hong Kong initially but learns that if she can get similar work in Canada and is employed there for two years that she can sponsor her husband to join her. After a short visit home before flying to Canada, she determines her husband will not be joining her.

MG works as a nanny for a couple who eventually take advantage of her. Later she finds employment caring for a woman named Liz who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Despite the many challenges faced by MG in this new role (and learning of her pregnancy), she and Liz become wonderful companions.

While the viewpoint of the story being seen through the eyes of MG’s newborn baby was creative, it did not add anything to the story in my opinion but a bit of foreshadowing. The level of character development on the other hand is excellent and I learned a lot about the Filipino nanny program and the hardships faced by these women.

Liz identifies as queer and has been instrumental in building acceptance in her community. I loved this part of the book and the fact that a person with Alzheimer’s was still afforded this level of respect. I also appreciated the author writing in #OwnVoices for Liz’s character.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys learning about immigrant experiences and/or characters identifying as part of the LGBTQIA2 community.

[Justin P · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Those places people go to be a hero, to be an Overseas Filipino Worker, are all places constructed only through imagination." 

The Story of Us by Catherine Hernandez is a sensitive, loving story about the connections we have to those who take care of us.

Mary Grace, or MG, is a native Filipina, but like many in her country, she wishes for a better life for herself and her family. For some, including MG, this means moving out of the country (and away from family) to become an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker). We follow MG’s journey all the way from own birth to becoming an OFW in China and Canada, told through the eyes of her unborn child.

The Story of Us tells a story that Filipinos know all too well, but that not everyone may know the intricacies of. It’s an eye-opening experience that will resonate with any reader, highlighting the sacrifices we make for our family. In the case of MG and others, it's moving to an unfamiliar place, away from their family (while many times, having to care for someone else's). The experience is trying, but through the child-like lens the story uses (which is mostly successful), there is light in an otherwise difficult experience.  

This narration creates a perspective that is first AND third person, and provides us with the benefits of both. The story is both intimate and distant, echoing the experience of OFWs. 

As she did with Scarborough, Hernandez treats her diverse and complex characters with love and empathy; each is beautifully rich and beautifully imperfect but still lovable.

The Story of Us is a love letter to those who love us, to those who create a space for us, who see us for who we truly are. 

I would recommend The Story of Us, I would warn that there is some triggering content. Read with care.

Thank you @harpercollinsca and @netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this title. 

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing book from one of my favorite Canadian authors!!! This story features Mary Grace Concepcion, a young Filipino woman who travels overseas to help support her husband. Eventually she finds herself in Toronto working as a nanny for a series of not-nice women who take advantage of her terribly.

While she's working, she's also training to become a Personal Support Worker and hoping she'll be able to sponsor her husband so he can join her in Canada and they can start a family of their own. Her next job involves looking after an aging Alzheimer's patient who is living with her son in a rundown Scarborough bungalow.

Told from the unique perspective of Mary Grace's unborn child and great on audio narrated by the author herself. I really loved this story!! The focus on some of the most neglected and disrespected members of society was so well done (both immigrant workers and PSWs). I also really enjoyed the friendship that developed between Mary Grace and Liz and the way she ended up fighting for her was so touching!

Highly, highly recommended! I read this in one sitting and it was such an enjoyable experience!

⚠️TW: pregnancy loss/miscarriage, transphobia, adultery, mistreatment of elders (among others)

[Stephanielikesbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unique narrator/viewpoint used to tell the story which was very effective. The novel is about an overseas Filipino worker, MG, who first works as a nanny and then as a personal support worker in Toronto, in the hopes of becoming a permanent Canadian resident. Shines a light on the tribulations and challenges of these occupations and the way in which the workers are sometimes taken advantage of - all this while missing their families who remain in their countries of birth. Very good diversity fiction that was well-written and which taught me about Filipino culture and the need we all have to be loved, respected, and understood. Highly recommend.

Thanks to Harper Collins Canada and Netgalley for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a high 4.5, but I couldn’t give it a 4!! Great emotional impact at the end ❤️ I found this story slowly builds, and you don’t realize how invested you are in the characters.

I love Catherine Hernandez’ empathetic, non judgemental way of writing.

[Nicole Sobolewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yall… this book changed my life and I would give it 2757395729829193 trillion stars out of 5 if Goodreads would let me. Read this book. Please for the love of god read this book. I beg. I plead. I’m going to be thinking about this book for the rest of my goddamn life.

[Bree C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so beautiful and tells a number of important stories. The only thing I could have done without was the maybe babies. Push past the first fifty ish pages to fall in love.

[Dayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last time I read a Catherine Hernandez book, I thought it was absolutely incredible. I cried and laughed with SCARBOROUGH. When I read the synopsis for THE STORY OF US, I wasn't sure how I felt about the story. I didn't know if it would be one of those books that would have me questioning why I'm reading a story about seemingly...nothing?

But.

But.

I'm so glad I ignored that worry and picked this beautiful and eye-opening book up. Much like with her debut, Hernandez had me laughing, crying, and feeling so many levels of anger.

This was a beautiful and heartbreaking collection of experiences that the MC has throughout her life as a nanny and then a Personal Support Worker. The stories we see and the people we meet through her experiences were a collection of personalities that we might see every day on our commute in the city, or that we might know of in passing or through friends and family. It was such a diverse number of experiences that while one might have had you despairing for the MC's experiences, another might restore a bit of the hope one can't help but have in such a situation.

All of these stories are told by the unlikeliest of narrators, which I think added a special level to the story. Especially in certain moments when the recounting of the past is interrupted by the present-day necessities.

I urge everyone to read this book. It's incredibly eye-opening and a beautiful story about a woman who fights every day to be able to support her family. It's also a jarring reality of what it means to sacrifice yourself in order to make sure your loved ones are taken care of, and the heartbreak that can follow the decisions made along the way.

Be prepared for incredibly fraught relationships, desperate moments full of fear and powerlessness, and heartwarming moments that remind us that even though we are only human, we can have the capacity for the greatest understanding and love.

Happy reading!

[megs wray · Rating 4 out of 5]

catherine hernandez is an incredible writer. i did read this immediately after finishing “scarborough” though (which makes me extra critical in this review), and found this book missed some of the things i loved most about the other.

hernandez writes fantastic, multifaceted characters, but i just didn’t feel overly invested in many of them, and the chapters were too long for my liking. narrating the story from the perspective of a newborn (and sometimes pre-born) baby was suuuuch a unique + fascinating choice, and i wished that played a more central role beyond framing the story.

at the end of the day, this is still a very good book, and i’d read anything hernandez writes

[midori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great, fast-paced read for me. Hernandez sure writes books you can’t easily put down. One of the strangest, most jarring narrators ever — the main character’s egg, and eventual baby (second-person, which is… probably one of the only second person books I’ve ever read in recent memory?), but it really starts to make sense and fit with the scope of the story by the end.

Definitely a few tears shed - I love a found family story + a multigenerational perspective

[Sara H · Rating 4 out of 5]

MG’s story of working as an overseas worker in Canada to support her family in the Philippines really resonated with me. It was refreshing to see a novel focusing on the life of an OFW 🫶🏼 I loved that the novel also explored her friendship and care of Liz! The representation in this book was amazing, but I unfortunately really did not love the baby as the narrator 🥴

[ronnie♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m gonna give this 2.5, and honestly it’s more my personal taste than anything. I just found it boring, but I also find most poetic fiction boring, and that’s what it read like, idk if you’d actually categorize it as such.

The last 50 pages were great though. The few pages before the epilogue had me crying. I’m still mourning a loss right now and the descriptions just hit really close to home.

[Jennifer T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what an incredible audio book! I was blown away by the author’s emotional and heartfelt performance. Solid 5 ⭐️!

[Lily Stafford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous book for so many reasons. I couldn’t put it down. Catherine Hernandez is a phenomenal author. This is a story and characters that will stick with me for a long time.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story about finding our own family. The narration by an unborn baby does get a bit confusing at times. I felt the story needed more, more about Liz sooner, more about MG and more about their lives together.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pickering mentioned! Putting us on the map 🙂‍↕️

[Brenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was slippery - my teeth couldn’t get ahold of it!!!

[Lindsay (lindsaysalwaysreading) Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

My three-year-old uses the word 'interesting' to describe anything he doesn't really like, but doesn't want to be rude about.

This book was really interesting.

After spending time working as a nanny, MG ends up in Canada working as a personal support worker to Liz, a trans woman with dementia, so that she can send money back home to the Philippines.

The first thing you need to know about this book is that it is told in the second person, from the perspective of her baby when it was an egg inside her. Yes, that threw me and I almost didn't continue to read on. While I did get more used to it, I'm still not sure what it added, and how it made it through edits without someone suggesting that be changed to make it more accessible. This book is very well reviewed, so clearly they knew what they were doing, but it didn't work for me.

I enjoyed the middle section and following MG's journey. It was fascinating to see how she was treated in each home, with lots of different dynamics explored. I didn't find her relationship with Liz to be especially heartwarming and wish that part had been developed more. I love the 'found families' trope, and wish it came to life a bit more.

I loved Scarborough, so I will still check out what Hernandez does next, but this one was just too cumbersome for me.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may have loved The Story of Us even more than I loved Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez. I was lucky enough to win an advanced copy and I was not disappointed by it! I admit I did have some problems with the unfamiliar terms at first, but I got around those and really quickly became taken in by the story. I loved that the book was written from the perspective of MG's newborn baby. I don't recall reading a novel written from this point of view and it was unique. I found myself relating to MG when she was introduced to new ways of thinking and looking at various situations. I like to think of myself as an open and forward-thinking person, but I found myself looking at various memories of when maybe I wasn't as open-minded as I thought I was. I have learned just like MG did.

The characters in this novel will have you feeling a gauntlet of emotions. They almost jump off the page at times. There are characters you just want to hug, some you want to smack, and some you just want to stab with anything handy. Like Scarborough, it's a bit like a roller coaster. You are up, you are down, you feel numb in spots. The Story of Us is a beautiful novel that can hopefully make everyone rethink how they act now and how they acted in the past.

[Sara Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this book 10/5 stars I would. Catherine Hernandez has such an incredible gift - this book was both beautiful, heart-breaking and uplifting.