Tell Me the Truth

Marc Portelance is a graduate business student and researcher at
Laurentian University.

Naomi’s parents are experiencing marital difficulties due, in large
part, to the stress caused by financial difficulties. In the course of a
particular outburst by her parents, Naomi discovers that the man she had
always called “father” is not, in fact, the man who fathered her.
This surprising revelation is followed by the news that her beloved
horse is to be sold along with the farm. Naomi, her brother, and her
horse set out on a quest to find her “real” father.

Given its relative brevity, it’s not surprising that the novel is
cursory in its treatment of the themes it introduces. For example,
ecological concerns related to the clear-cutting of British Columbia’s
forests surface as Naomi and her brother are traveling the countryside,
but this issue is not accorded much analysis. Likewise, although the
novel introduces a number of subjects of potential interest to a young
audience (marital breakdown, what constitutes a “real” parent, how
adults react to stress), little effort is made to transcend the banal.
Not a first-choice purchase.