The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains by Sarah Clutton

Nine-year-old Alfie’s mum, Emilia, has been lying to him forever! It’s only ever been the two of them in Ireland, but after a medical emergency, Emilia drops a bombshell - they have family in Australia and they’re going to visit them. Their journey takes them to the windswept Tasmanian countryside, to the doorstep of the Bains family farmhouse, where Penny opens her door to a grandson she never knew existed.

Alfie’s character leaps off the page with his honesty, innocence and unfiltered observations. At its heart, this is a story about family, whether it's the ones we’re born into or the ones we find. Sarah cleverly explores the messiness of love, pain of betrayal and the possibility of forgiveness, while maintaining a light touch. 

The small, tight-knit community of Beggars Rock provides the perfect backdrop for a story full of quirky characters, tangled family ties and the slow unravelling of long-buried secrets. The township was inspired by the fishing village of Stanley on the north-west coast of Tasmania, close to where Sarah’s mother grew up and where she once lived as a child. Somersby House is loosely based on a heritage-listed mansion called Highfield House, built in the 1830s for the use of the Chief Agent of the Van Diemen’s Land Company, explains Sarah.

“The north-west coast was an area of Tasmania where colonisation and the frontier wars had a particularly devastating effect on the local Palawa population,” says Sarah.“I changed the name of Stanley to Beggars Rock to allow for fictional leaps, but the beauty of the countryside and the landscape around the town in this book is very much based on reality.”

“In 2021, I began plotting a creepy murder mystery as I stood at the top of the Nut in Stanley, among the hemlock plants. But not long after, as I hurtled toward my fiftieth birthday and the lockdowns continued, I suddenly felt the need to spend time writing a book that would make me smile. It so happened that I’d previously written a scene that wouldn’t leave me alone - a woman answers her farmhouse door to a boy, and neither she nor I knew who he was. The scene had been stuck in my head and the possibilities for this boy intrigued me. And they made me smile,” says Sarah.

Reviewer: Andrea Molloy

Allen & Unwin