Childhood is the debut novel of Canadian writer André Alexis. Published in 1998 by Henry Holt and Company, the novel is set in Petrolia, Ontario and Ottawa, Ontario and is narrated by Thomas MacMillan, a middle-aged black man re-telling the story of his mother's love affair with a man named Henry. The novel was shortlisted for the 1998 Giller Prize, losing to Alice Munro's The Love of a Good Woman. Source: Wikipedia (en)