The Story of Us with Catherine Hernandez

27may5:00 pm6:00 pmThe Story of Us with Catherine HernandezWith Catherine Hernandez & Natasha Ramoutar5:00 pm - 6:00 pm(GMT-04:00)

Event Details

Join acclaimed author Catherine Hernandez in conversation with author Natasha Ramoutar about Catherine’s latest novel, The Story of Us.

The Story of Us by Catherine Hernandez
HarperAvenue

Like many Overseas Filipino Workers, Mary Grace Concepcion has lived a life of sacrifices. First, she left her husband, Ale, to be a caregiver in Hong Kong. Now, she has travelled even farther, to Canada, in the hopes of one day sponsoring Ale and having children of their own.

But when she arrives in Toronto, she must navigate a series of bewildering and careless employers and unruly children. Mary Grace seeks new employment as a Personal Support Worker and begins caring for Liz, an elderly patient suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, whose health is as fragile as her rundown bungalow beside the Rouge River in Scarborough. While Mary Grace’s time with her charge challenges her conservative beliefs, she soon becomes Liz’s biggest ally, and the friendship that grows between them will turn out to be just as legendary as Liz’s past.

Beautifully narrated by the all-seeing eye of Mary Grace’s newborn baby, The Story of Us is a novel about sisterhood, about blood and chosen family, and about how belonging can be found where we least expect it.

Speakers for this event

  • Catherine Hernandez

    Catherine Hernandez

    Catherine Hernandez is a proud queer woman of colour and an award-winning author. She is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian heritage and is married into the Navajo Nation. Her debut novel, Scarborough, which was adapted into an award-winning motion picture, won the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award as an unpublished manuscript. It was a finalist for the Toronto Book Award, the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award, the Edmund White Award, the Trillium Book Award and Canada Reads. Her second novel, Crosshairs, made the CBC’s Best Canadian Fiction list and was named one of NOW magazine’s 10 Best Books, one of NBC’s 20 Best LGBTQ Books and an Audible Best Audiobook. Her third novel, The Story of Us, was shortlisted for the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award and longlisted for a Toronto Book Award. Catherine Hernandez is also the author of the children’s books M Is for Mustache A Pride ABC Book, I Promise and Where Do Your Feelings Live? Her most recent novel, Behind You, was published this year. Before it hit the shelves, it was optioned by Conquering Lion Pictures to become a feature film, with Catherine writing the screenplay. Catherine Hernandez lives outside Toronto.

  • Natasha Ramoutar

    Natasha Ramoutar

    Moderator

    Natasha Ramoutar is a writer of Indo-Guyanese descent from Scarborough. Her debut poetry collection Bittersweet was published in 2020 by Mawenzi House and she co-edited FEEL WAYS, an anthology of Scarborough writing. Her second poetry collection It Keeps Us Here will be out fall 2024 from Wolsak & Wynn.

    URL https://www.natasharamoutar.com/

    Moderator

Partners

Accessibility Sponsor: HarperCollins Canada