Body, Mind & Spirit Inspiration & Personal Growth
Unearthing
A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets
by (author) Kyo Maclear
Knopf Canada
Inspiration & Personal Growth, Death, Grief, Bereavement, Asian & Asian American
For readers of Crying in H Mart and Wintering, an unforgettable memoir about a family secret revealed by a DNA test, the lessons learned in its aftermath, and the indelible power of love.
Three months after Kyo Maclear's father dies in December 2018, she gets the results of a DNA test showing that she and the father who raised her are not biologically related. Suddenly Maclear becomes a detective in her own life, unravelling a family mystery piece by piece, and assembling the story of her biological father. Along the way, larger questions arise: what exactly is kinship? And what does it mean to be a family?
Thoughtful in its reflections on race and lineage, unflinching in its insights on grief and loyalty, Unearthing is a captivating and propulsive story of inheritance that goes beyond heredity.
What gets planted, and what gets buried? What role does storytelling play in unearthing the past and making sense of a life? Can the humble act of tending a garden provide common ground for an inquisitive daughter and her complicated mother? As it seeks to answer these questions, Unearthing bursts with the very love it seeks to understand.
KYO MACLEAR was born in London and grew up in Toronto as the only child of a foreign correspondent. Her father reported on some significant world events, including recording the first interviews with American POWs in North Vietnam. While Stray Love is entirely a work of fiction, it is informed by her experiences living with her father. Her first novel, The Letter Opener (2007), was awarded the K.M. Hunter Artists Award and shortlisted for the Amazon/Books in Canada First Novel Award. Maclear is also an award-winning visual arts writer and the author of two children's books: Spork (2010) and Virginia Wolf (2012). Visit her online at www.kyomaclear.ca.
Kyo Maclear's profile page
Other titles by Kyo Maclear
If You Were a City
illustrated by Sanna Francesca
The Bashful Cloud
illustrated by Nathalie Dion
The Big Bath House
illustrated by Gracey Zhang
Hello, Rain!
illustrated by Chris Turnham
Story Boat
illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh
It Began With a Page
How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way
illustrated by Julie Morstad
Operatic
illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler
Birds Art Life
Julia, Child
A Story of Fashion Designer Elsa Schiaparelli