When the Results Arrived

The recent boom in home DNA ­testing has brought us many things: ubiquitous ancestry composition pie charts, bizarre facts such as whether a person is likely to be fond of cilantro, and — to many customers’ dismay — the unveiling of long-held secrets. Canadian statistics are hard to find, but a 2022 survey by the market research and data analytics firm YouGov found that 33 percent of American test takers learned they had close relatives they didn’t know about previously. That’s no small thing when you consider that around one in five adults in the United States reports having used a mail‑in kit.

Given this vast and ever-growing landscape of family revelations, Kyo Maclear’s Unearthing is sure to resonate deeply with many. In the wake of her father’s death, the novelist and children’s author known for her nature-inspired writing details a harrowing three-year journey to...