WINNER OF THE 2023 GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NONFICTION

For readers of Crying in H Mart and Wintering, an unforgettable memoir about a family secret revealed by a DNA test, the lessons learned in its aftermath, and the indelible power of love.

Three months after Kyo Maclear’s father dies in December 2018, she gets the results of a DNA test showing that she and the father who raised her are not biologically related. Suddenly Maclear becomes a detective in her own life, unravelling a family mystery piece by piece, and assembling the story of her biological father. Along the way, larger questions arise: what exactly is kinship? And what does it mean to be a family?

Thoughtful in its reflections on race and lineage, unflinching in its insights on grief and loyalty, Unearthing is a captivating and propulsive story of inheritance that goes beyond heredity. 

What gets planted, and what gets buried? What role does storytelling play in unearthing the past and making sense of a life? Can the humble act of tending a garden provide common ground for an inquisitive daughter and her complicated mother? As it seeks to answer these questions, Unearthing bursts with the very love it seeks to understand.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
WINNER OF THE 2023 GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NON-FICTION
NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST
A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

“In recursive, often incantatory prose, Maclear meditates on the fragile nature of kinship and memory. A finely plotted and intricate narrative, Unearthing reimagines the garden metaphor and explores the porous grounds of self, culture and belonging. This quiet, arresting work softens the line between memoir and philosophy.” —Peer assessment committee for the 2023 Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction: KatłĮà Lafferty, Lorri Neilsen Glenn and Rinaldo Walcott

“A strong meditation on family, identity and self-definition.” —The Globe and Mail (“The Best Books of 2023”)

"Poetic, elliptical. . . . By pairing the untangling of her family tree with an appreciation of the entanglement of the natural world, Maclear meditates on our desire to impose clear-cut boundaries on what comprises kinship and inheritance, and reminds us of our belonging to larger ecosystems. . . . Unique. . . . Bringing in the botanical allows Maclear to imbue her family's story . . . with a generous, open-handed perspective." —NPR

"Maclear guides the reader on a mind-altering journey that challenges biological determination, while rooting family in the daily practice of care and love. . . . Moving." —Esquire

"A moving account of a daughter’s struggle to know her mother before she loses her…This story is a reminder of the abundance of experience present in all families, and the power and healing that can come from honoring those many truths.” —The Washington Post

“A deeply thoughtful meditation on secrets and stories, race and lineage, grief and grace—all told through the narrative of the common language . . . tending to a shared garden. As Maclear presses her reluctant mother for answers to the questions that have blown her life wide open, she comes to realize that amid the muddled memories and half-truths also lie lessons in what it takes for new things to grow—patience, pragmatism and a willingness to accept beauty (whether in flowers and plants or the ineffable bonds of family) in all its wild, unruly forms.” —The Globe and Mail

“Unearthing could have been about Maclear’s quest to discover the truth about her paternity, but instead it is something far more interesting: a mystery about Maclear’s mother. The result is a lyrical . . . meditation on nature, kinship and the lives of both humans and plants.” —The New Statesman

“[A] masterful, original and poetic memoir. . . . As Kyo slowly realizes that the father she’s mourning isn’t actually her father, she unearths truths she never saw coming. This unique, powerful and captivating memoir mixed with gardening and plant life, is truly a wow.”—Zibby Owens, Good Morning America

“A lovely meditation on the hidden past and the blossoming present.” —Kirkus Reviews

"Maclear’s writing is poetic in the best sense. Using the image of her mother’s wild, rambling garden as a foundation, Maclear examines these questions in detail, without proposing a pat answer to any of them because, ultimately, they are unanswerable. Instead, Maclear allows the reader to struggle with them as she did, granting her audience the space and silence to reconcile the gaps and secrets in their own lives." —BookPage

“A brilliantly told memoir about love, marriage, hope and regret—about life. . . . [Unearthing explores] the burden of carrying a secret . . . uncovering—unearthing—more than [Maclear] could ever have imagined when she began.” —Parry Sound North Star

“For months I have been feeling like I am keeping the most wonderful secret: the transformative brilliance and beauty of Kyo Maclear's new book. . . . Extraordinary . . . a memoir of secrets, lies, and deep connections unlike any I have read before. —Naomi Klein (via Twitter)

“I could not put this gorgeous book down. Maclear interweaves her personal and family story with that of the plants she encounters and grows, subtly revealing how knowing the truth of our own stories is an essential part of navigating a world in ecological crisis. Unearthing is the rarest kind of book: at once vulnerable and precise, gentle but unforgettable. ” —Jessica J. Lee, Two Trees Make a Forest

“In this magnificent, searing memoir, Kyo Maclear takes us on a journey that is at once singular and utterly universal. What forces contribute to who we are and who we become? And what happens when the story we know to be true of ourselves is uprooted, unearthed? In poetic language that cuts to the bone, Maclear grapples with these questions and the result is a profound reading experience. I will never forget it.” —Dani Shapiro, bestselling author of Signal Fires

“A lucid and compelling memoir of family rupture and repair and the power of plants to anchor us in the world” —Sue Stuart-Smith, author of The Well-Gardened Mind