Certainty.

Lori A. Dunn is a ESL teacher, instructional designer, and freelance
writer in New Westminster, B.C.

Madeleine Thien’s novel, Certainty, is a dreamily poetic look at the secret lives that people lead, and the thoughts and feelings loved ones keep from each other. As the story begins, Gail has died unexpectedly, leaving her parents, Clara and Matthew, and long-time partner, Ansel, grieving. Gail was a radio producer in the midst of investigating the cryptic diary of a friend’s father, and her father’s past.

All of the characters are allowed to present their perspective on their lives, their own picture of their relationships. Clara gives us her childhood in a Kowloon restaurant, and her uncertainty over her husband’s love. Matthew, enwrapped in his own past in Japanese-occupied Borneo, remembers his lost childhood love, and his interwoven memories well up like tears. Ansel shares his uncertainty about his love for Gail, and hers for him, and tries to wrap himself in his work as a doctor.

The novel has a dreamy, poetic feel, and time is a slippery quality, with much of the story told in flashbacks to many times and places. Thien has managed to capture the complexities of human relationships, and in doing so, written a novel of lasting value.