The Secret History of My Hometown

The six stories in Andrew Boden’s debut collection comprise a reinvented history of the town of Cranbrook, British Columbia, from its birth in the late nineteenth century to its death and re-birth in 1983, after a Soviet missile strike. Moving by way of hard “what ifs” all the while grounded in the streets and surrounding wilderness of a town in southeastern B.C.  

What if when the Sells Floto Circus lost six elephants into the Cranbrook wilderness, a young, lovesick Ernest Hemingway came to hunt the missing pachyderms? What if Leon Trotsky retreated not to Mexico City but to Cranbrook while it was embroiled in labour unrest? What if, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a Chinese family’s grocery in Cranbrook depended on the intervention of none other than the legendary Monkey King?

Boden’s stories are driven by slyly funny, plainspoken characters who make the unlikely so likely it will sneak up on you. For fans of the fiction of Karen Russell, George Saunders, and Zsuzsi Gartner, The Secret History of My Hometown brings the fantastical to an otherwise unassuming railway stop in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains.

"Andrew Boden's The Secret History of My Hometown is touched by a rare genius that demands our attention. This magic realist take on Canadian history will not leave you disappointed."

— Robert Twigger, author of Red Nile, White Mountain and Angry White Pyjamas

“Andrew Boden’s writing is erudite and audacious. He is a master of illustrating the violence of the world as well as the violence of the heart in fictions which are wildly inventive and entertaining. I loved his debut The Secret History of My Hometown and am jonesing for more Bodenesque literary escapades.”

— Zsuzsi Gartner, Giller-Prize shortlisted author of Better Living Through Plastic Explosives and Writers Trust Fiction Prize finalist for The Beguiling

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