Catherine Hernandez wrote a story about chosen family from the perspective of a newborn baby
Catherine Hernandez wanted to capture what love feels like. So she wrote a book from the perspective of a newborn baby.
The Story of Us is the story of Mary Grace Concepcion, a Filipino worker who has left her family behind to build a new life in Canada. She secures employment as a personal support worker in Toronto, caring for Liz, an elderly trans woman with dementia who lives in a bungalow in Scarborough.
An unlikely relationship blossoms between the two, as Mary Grace works to bring her husband to Canada and learns more about Liz's surprising past. The Story of Us is narrated by Mary Grace's omniscient newborn daughter, adding a unique twist to the heartfelt story.
The novel comes on the heels of a big year for the queer writer of Filipino, Indian, Chinese and Spanish descent. Hernandez was a Canada Reads 2022 finalist for her novel Scarborough and the book's film adaptation took home eight Canadian Screen Awards, including best motion picture. She also published her third children's book, Where Do Your Feelings Live?.
In 2021, Hernandez created and starred in the Audible Original sketch comedy podcast Imminent Disaster. She has also written the novel Crosshairs, as well as the children's books I Promise and M is for Mustache.
Hernandez spoke to The Next Chapter's contributor and CBC Books producer Ryan B. Patrick about writing The Story of Us.
What is The Story of Us all about?
The Story of Us is about a cisgender woman who works as a personal support worker to an elderly white trans woman who has dementia. They create this beautiful, grounded, loving friendship that really does feel like the love between them is spanning generations, and it's all told through the point of view of her newborn baby.
Who is the baby narrating this book?
The caregiver is M.G. or Mary Grace, and then her baby is named Dina. You see her telling the story from before she is born to the point where she is born into this world.
This was a chance for me to really play with: who can tell a story? How is this story told? And can you create this epic journey within the body of this tiny child?- Catherine Hernandez
It really is the question of what would happen if this baby, who has just come into being as a human, was to have an unspoken conversation with an elderly woman who is about to go back to her ancestors? What would that conversation be?
This was a chance for me to play with the questions, "Who can tell a story? How is this story told? And can you create this epic journey within the body of this tiny child?"
I hope people will come along for the ride because I feel it's worth it. I can't wait for people to read it.
What were you thinking about when you wrote Mary Grace's journey?
It's important to note that one of the biggest exports for the Philippines are its people, it's labour. So you have these overseas Filipino workers all around the world that are helping make the world function. Since I was a kid, I understood that reality, that there were people that stayed and there were people that left in order to work.
How do we care for vulnerable populations of people? And then for those people who are caring, how are they vulnerable in this world?- Catherine Hernandez
I remember growing up thinking that your value is in what you do in this world, which is such a horrible way to think about your own humanity — that the only reason you should have access to resources is if you help others and you put yourself second or third or fourth.
How do we care for vulnerable populations of people? And then for those people who are caring, how are they vulnerable in this world? There is an exploration of that in the novel, like who is caring for the caregivers? And how do we respect them?
Her experiences as a caregiver range from this discomfort in being part of a family that's really not her family, watching marriages go through challenging times — these things are very private — to financial precarity and abuse of her labour. I explored the realities of that kind of labour through M.G.'s story.
LISTEN | Catherine Hernandez speaks with Q's Tom Power about The Story of Us:
M.G.'s journey takes her to Liz's home, where she becomes a caregiver. Liz lives in a rundown cottage in Scarborough. What is M.G.'s first impression of Liz?
I wanted to explore what it's like for people to go on a journey of allyship. You see that it's clumsy. She is this cisgender woman who comes from a Catholic background and nuclear family. M.G.'s goal is to come to Canada through the living caregiver program in the hopes that after her 24 months of service, she can then sponsor her husband to come to Canada.
I really hope [the book] inspires people to see how simple loving people can be.- Catherine Hernandez
When she comes, she's very desperate for employment. Out of desperation, she accepts this job offer from this family, where there is an elderly trans woman and she has no idea what that even means.
She has a very specific, ignorant view of gender identity that she understands from her upbringing, which is really transphobic. In the novel, you watch her slowly understand through many difficult conversations and difficult lessons what it actually means to love humans as they are and to see them as they truly are.
That was really important to me. I wanted it to be clumsy. I wanted it to be truthful when people read it, and I hope that it inspires people to see how simple loving people can be.
Liz is suffering from Alzheimer's right now, but she has her moments of being lucid. What has her life been like, particularly when she was younger?
What I wanted to show was all of the beautiful secrets that we carry in our body and the way that Liz holds this long, illustrious life inside of her, even though she doesn't really have that many memories. Slowly M.G. starts to uncover who she was before her memory started to fade and works with the community in order to help that history come to life.
She's the elder that I wanted to dream into being. I really am always looking for elders to guide me.- Catherine Hernandez
She's the elder that I wanted to dream into being. I am always looking for elders to guide me. I'm grateful that I'm 45 now. I have a couple more decades to go and boom, I'm going to be an elder. I mean, I'm already giving unsolicited advice.
I feel like I'm ready to be Liz one day. I hope people feel the same way about her, because I really do adore her. I adore her so much.
A character in the novel says "blood is thicker than water but so is a milkshake." What's your take on family, be it blood or chosen?
That's definitely a saying of mine: blood is thicker than water but so is a milkshake. Many of us who have been orphaned because of who we are have reconfigured ourselves so that people who are our dear friends become our chosen family.
Many of us who have been orphaned because of who we are have reconfigured ourselves so that people who are our dear friends become our chosen family.- Catherine Hernandez
I have a select few chosen family that are near and dear to me. I also have blood family that are near and dear to me and the combination of the two allows us to reparent ourselves in the way that we want to be parented and birth ourselves into this world in a feeling of confidence and being held and loved.
When you look at M.G. and Liz's journey together, they choose to be each other's support. Chosen family is not always easy, just like any family; there are ups and downs. There are mistakes that you make and we grow together. Sometimes we also say goodbye when it doesn't work.
In the case of M.G. and Liz, they need each other. As the book progresses, you see this forging of a connection that is magical and it's heartwarming.
Hernandez's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
Interview produced by Lisa Mathews, Shelagh Rogers and Jacqueline Kirke.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
