Better Reading Preview: The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains by Sarah Clutton

Better Reading Preview: The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains by Sarah Clutton

Alfie’s mum, Emilia, has been lying to him forever.

It’s only been the two of them in Ireland, but when Emilia’s appendix explodes, she drops a bombshell: they have a family back in Australia, and she and Alfie are going to meet them.

When Penny Bains opens the door of her Tasmanian farmhouse to a boy with an Irish accent claiming to be the son of her missing daughter, Emilia, her life is turned upside down.

Alfie needs to know who his father is, but the residents of the tiny town of Beggars Rock and his newly found grandmother and great-aunts are all staying silent. As Alfie starts to uncover secrets that his family would prefer to keep buried, the one thing he does discover is that no one is willing to tell him the truth.

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We invite our trusted community to engage directly with the nation-wide conversation about books by registering for Preview, our new crowd-sourced book review platform. Due to the insight and perceptiveness of our readers, we are launching a platform that allows your voice to be heard.

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When a campaign is launched, readers will have 24 hours in which to send through their expression of interest, by filling in the registration form above. After 24 hours, Preview readers will be randomly selected from the pool of those who expressed interest in receiving and reviewing a free advance copy of the specified book. Usually these advance copies are printed three to four months before they hit bookshops, making Preview a great way to find out about upcoming titles before anyone else.

But be warned – there are only limited copies of each Preview book available for review.

You will only be contacted if you were successful in being selected.

When you register you are expressing interest for the following:

A free advance copy of the specified book sent to your postal address, in exchange for a brief review of the book that may be used for promotional purposes by Better Reading and the relevant publisher.

Important details:

– We need all your details, including your email address and postal address, for your expression of interest to be successful.

– Preview is currently only open to Australia-based readers.

– A successful registration to review a Preview book is for that single title, only. With every new Preview book announced, you will need to express interest again.

– When announced, Preview expressions of interest are open for 24 hours.

– Better Reading and the relevant publisher will never share the details provided by Preview reviewers for any purposes beyond the relevant Preview campaign.

– Preview demand is very high, and there are only limited spots available for each title. To keep things fair, if you fail to provide a review for a Preview title on two occasions, you will unfortunately not be selected for future Preview titles.

What happens after I express interest?

If you have been successful, you will receive a confirmation email shortly afterwards from Better Reading. This will contain a review deadline and a link through which to submit your review. It will also contain other details on the reviewing process.

About your Preview review:

– Preview reviews may feature on the Better Reading website and the Better Reading Facebook page. The relevant publisher may also use the reviews for promotion. When reviews are used for promotional purposes, each reviewer will only be identified by their first name and Australian state. Reviews may be edited slightly, just for the purposes of brevity and clarity.

– Social media posts about Preview may be shared by Better Reading on its social media channels and/ or website.

– All Preview reviews must be no longer than 200 words and must be received by the deadline specified in your confirmation email. You will generally have four weeks to submit your review, from the time you receive your book.

– We want you to have fun with Preview – post photos of your book on Instagram or Facebook when you receive it, and when you’ve read it, share your thoughts using the hashtag #BRPreview. Be sure to tag Better Reading in your posts – we love to hear from our readers! And if you have a Goodreads account, we encourage you to share your reviews there too.

Reviews

Your Preview Verdict: The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains by Sarah Clutton

Review | Preview

29 April 2025

Your Preview Verdict: The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains by Sarah Clutton

    Publisher details

    The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains
    Author
    Sarah Clutton
    Publisher
    Allen & Unwin
    Genre
    Fiction
    Released
    29 April, 2025
    ISBN
    9781761471476

    Synopsis

    Alfie's mum, Emilia, has been lying to him forever.

    It's only been the two of them in Ireland, but when Emilia's appendix explodes, she drops a bombshell: they have a family back in Australia, and she and Alfie are going to meet them.

    When Penny Bains opens the door of her Tasmanian farmhouse to a boy with an Irish accent claiming to be the son of her missing daughter, Emilia, her life is turned upside down.

    Alfie needs to know who his father is, but the residents of the tiny town of Beggars Rock and his newly found grandmother and great-aunts are all staying silent. As Alfie starts to uncover secrets that his family would prefer to keep buried, the one thing he does discover is that no one is willing to tell him the truth.

    Sarah Clutton
    About the author

    Sarah Clutton

    Sarah Clutton lives in a storybook village in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales on Gundungurra and Tharawal country. She has tried her hand at various jobs: research assistant, judge's associate, insurance claims guru, litigation lawyer, philanthropic foundation manager and ghost-writer. In between freelance writing gigs she is events manager for her local chapter of Rural Australians for Refugees. In 2018 she was the national recipient of the Dymocks/McIntosh Commercial Fiction Scholarship. The Remarkable Truths of Alfie Bains pays homage to her early years on a farm in North West Tasmania, and to the charms and challenges of small-town living.

    Books by Sarah Clutton

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