Childhood (Alexis novel)
Childhood is the debut novel of Canadian writer André Alexis. Published in 1998 by Henry Holt and Company, the novel is set in Petrolia, Ontario and Ottawa, Ontario and is narrated by Thomas MacMillan, a middle-aged black man re-telling the story of his mother's love affair with a man named Henry. The novel was shortlisted for the 1998 Giller Prize, losing to Alice Munro's The Love of a Good Woman. Plot The isolated poetry-loving Thomas MacMillan pens a letter to his lover, telling her the story of his mother's love affair with a man named Henry and in the process telling the story of his own family and childhood. Born in 1957 Thomas is quickly abandoned by his mother and left to be raised by his alcoholic abusive grandmother in Petrolia, Ontario. While his grandmother equips him with the bare necessities of life she keeps much of her former life shrouded in mystery. Thomas ends up learning most of his family history from his next door neighbours who are mostly welcoming and kind to him, though he does experience racism as his family is Trinidadian and he is the only black child in the mostly white community. In 1967 he