Half-Bads in White Regalia

A Memoir

By: Cody Caetano

Narrated by: Cody Caetano

Length: 5 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

*WINNER OF THE 2023 INDIGENOUS VOICES AWARD FOR PUBLISHED PROSE IN ENGLISH*
*FINALIST FOR THE 2023 EDNA STAEBLER AWARD FOR CREATIVE NON-FICTION*
*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 LEACOCK MEDAL FOR HUMOUR*
*LONGLISTED FOR CANADA READS 2023*
*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 TORONTO BOOK AWARDS*

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

A family tries to learn from the mistakes of past generations in this whirlwind memoir from a wholly original new voice.

The Caetanos move into a doomed house in the highway village of Happyland before an inevitable divorce pulls Cody’s parents in separate directions. His mom, Mindimooye, having discovered her Anishinaabe birth family and Sixties Scoop origin story, embarks on a series of fraught relationships and fresh starts. His dad, O Touro, a Portuguese immigrant and drifter, falls back into “big do, little think” behaviour, despite his best intentions.

Left alone at the house in Happyland, Cody and his siblings must fend for themselves, even as the pipes burst and the lights go out. His protective big sister, Kris, finds inventive ways to put food on the table, and his stoic big brother, Julian, facilitates his regular escapes into the world of video games. As life yanks them from one temporary solution to the next, they steal moments of joy and resist buckling under “baddie” temptations aplenty.

Capturing the chaos and wonder of a precarious childhood, Cody Caetano delivers a fever dream coming-of-age garnished with a slang all his own. Half-Bads in White Regalia is an unforgettable debut that unspools a tangled family history with warmth, humour, and deep generosity.

©2022 Cody Caetano (P)2022 Hamish Hamilton

Critic reviews

"*WINNER OF THE 2023 INDIGENOUS VOICES AWARD FOR PUBLISHED PROSE IN ENGLISH*
*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 LEACOCK MEDAL FOR HUMOUR*
*LONGLISTED FOR CANADA READS 2023*

“Memoirs are a difficult alchemy of testimony and confession, scene-making and character-building. They have to soften the hard things and show the way through at every turn—or at least they should—and that’s what Cody Caetano does in Half-Bads in White Regalia. No one gets off easy, but everyone is drawn with unflinching love and respect. Nothing seems wholly remarkable, yet everything is turned to see its beauty. Poetry permeates this prose, poetry and this wholly unique voice and style that somehow made me laugh and cry often, and in the oddest places. Read it. You won’t regret it. Telling you.” —Katherena Vermette, author of The Strangers

“A brilliant and devastating debut. This book hurtles towards difficult understandings about love and violence and family. At times I didn’t know whether I should laugh or cry, but Caetano fills each moment with such character and humanity that it’s impossible not to fall in love.” —Jordan Abel, author of NISHGA

“Caetano’s voice leaps off the page with a rhythmic, hip-hop style right from the first page. . . . [It] gives this memoir energy and descriptive heft.” —Toronto Star