That's My Baby: A Novel - Tapa dura

A woman searches over a lifetime for the answers to her past in this moving new novel by the author of Tell and Deafening 

At the end of Frances Itani’s Scotiabank Giller Prize–shortlisted Tell, a baby is adopted by a young Deseronto couple coming to terms with the traumatic effects of the Great War. Eighteen years on, the baby, Hanora, now a young woman, is told about her adoption. 

As the Second World War looms, Hanora is determined to uncover the mysteries of her identity. This quest will take her across the ocean with her cousin Billie, and headlong into the tumult of Europe. Amid wartime tensions, the great dance halls of the era beckon, and a career as a journalist becomes possible, even as her great love, Tobe, enlists in the infantry. 

But Hanora will not let the past lie, even though, decades later, the truth remains beyond her grasp. Billie, whose memory is fading as she slips into dementia, provides some clues, but it isn’t until Hanora discovers a set of diaries written by the late artist Mariah Bindle and what they reveal about her family that she can begin to piece together her history and her own place in the world.

In That’s My Baby, Itani’s vivid storytelling, infused with music and seamless historical detail, reveals how memory, no matter how imperfect, can shape the person we believe ourselves to be.

A new Deseronto novel from the internationally bestselling author of Tell and Deafening

At the end of Frances Itani’s Scotiabank Giller Prize—shortlisted Tell, a baby is adopted by a young Deseronto couple who are coming to terms with the end of the Great War. Eighteen years on, the baby, Hanora, now a young woman, is told about her adoption, but given no details. As a second world war looms, Hanora is determined to uncover the mysteries of her identity. This quest will take her across the ocean with her cousin, Billie, and headlong into the tumult of Europe. Amid the tensions of World War II, the music and the great dance halls of the era beckon, and a career as a journalist becomes possible, even as her great love, Tobe, enlists in the Infantry. But Hanora will not let the past lie, even though, decades later, the truth remains beyond her grasp. Billie, whose memory is fading as she slips into dementia, provides elusive clues, but it isn’t until Hanora discovers a set of diaries written by a late local artist and that she begins to piece together the central issue of her own identity, hidden from her since birth.

Itani’s vivid storytelling, infused with music and seamless historical detail, reveals how memory, no matter how imperfect, can shape the person we believe ourselves to be.