After really struggling with my last book this was a refreshing change. It was a real page turner, one of those, "just 1 more chapter before bed" books. The story running through the background of Aboroginal children being taken away from their families was shocking and something I knew nothing about.
Really enjoyed this book.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience

This is a definite 5 star read. This is both thought provoking and beautifully written.
I felt connected to both the characters and the plot.
This is a slow burn. What a phenomenal book

This is a rather humdrum family drama, centred on the disappearance of Mandy, neighbour to Joe and Louisa and babysitter to Isla.

Isla returns to Australia from London when her dad informs her that he is a suspect in Mandy’s disappearance 30 years earlier. Her loyalty to her father is unquestioning and Isla seeks to uncover the truth.

The truth is revealed to the reader through flashbacks to the time when Mandy and her husband Steve are having marital difficulties, partly due to Steve’s work as a cop.

Steve is tasked with taking children from First Nation families to ‘improve’ their circumstances. This is a significant event in Australian post-colonial history but, despite the author’s passionate afterword on the subject, I found it troubling that such an issue should be relegated to a sub-plot in a story about white Australians.

The structure works well but there are few sympathetic characters and the main plot is drawn out and rather predictable.

Darkly brooding study of dysfunctional families, culpable cultures

This is an excellently written first novel, set in England and Australia in the late 60s and late 90s, and intersects individual family disfunction, notably infidelity and alcoholism againt – or alongside, wider cultural dysfunction and marginalisation of groups. Notably, the powerlessness of women (particularly in the earlier sections) and the airbrushing of the history of colonial thinking, both now acknowledged in Australia, but not so much in the ‘mother country’.

Several generations of Australia’s First Nation children were stolen from their parents and ‘rehomed ‘ . Paler skinned children were more likely to be assimilated and adopted by whites, darker skinned children placed in homes. Although the forced separation of the children from their parents were primarily happening after Australia became an independent nation in 1901, where do these colonial attitudes come from?

The Australian government has finally apologised, for its actions, and this history is now being taught, acknowledged and some reparations made. There has been no such acknowledgement or apology made by the British Government, whose colonial history and attitudes formed Australia’s

The container for this story – at times unbearably tense, is the opening of a case of a missing white woman, from Australian suburbia, which happened in the 60s. The English Green family, middle class Joe, his wife Louisa, and their small child Isla, lived next door to the working class Australian Mallories, Steve and Mandy. The very different women are friends. Joe (involved in the paperwork side of construction) and Steve ( a policeman) are not. Louisa, beautiful, classy and brittle is pregnant with her second child, missing England, and trapped by marriage and motherhood. Mandy who loves and cares for Isla in a far more motherly way than Louisa, does not want a family of her own, though it is everything her husband yearns for. Both men have a more or less suppressed destructive violence at their hearts.

By the late 90s, Isla is living in London, in theory with a successful career in television production but demons from her dysfunctional family background already overwhelm here. Close to her father, but not her mother, it is the opening of the case into the disappeared woman, which touches her family, which takes her back to Australia.

I recommend this one, in some ways reminiscent of the thriller/crime books of another British woman who lives or has lived, in Australia – Jane Harper, whose books unpick far more than individual stories. Allott is a British woman, who had lived in Australia, is married to an Australian, but now living again in this country. Both women write from both within and without a culture which is not their original one, and, as outsiders, may see things which those who have lived all their lives in one country, may not

A great read of history, relating to the separation of children from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.

A very mysterious and Atmospheric book, switching between timelines, gives this debut book a really good compelling novel. I loved reading this and would totally recommend. I am looking forward to reading more from this author.

I thought this book was fantastic - not only are the characters deftly drawn and original, but the relationships between them all were deeply authentic and made for very compelling reading. The pace of the story was spot on and kept me guessing until the very end. The sensitivity with which it dealt with certain issues was also pitch perfect. Have already recommended it to several family members who I know will love it too!

A really unusual crime/human story bringing in a dark element of Australian history. I really enjoyed it and although I didn’t necessarily like the flawed characters I did care about them. Highly recommended.

This book spans over a period of 30 years. It is a book that certainly had all the ingredients to make a perfect, suspenseful 'whodunnit'. and really had me hooked to the very end.

With a dual timeline, this story flits effortlessly between the 1960's and the late 1990's, as it tells a story that is filled with anger, jealously, and betrayal.

The characters are realistic, the storyline is plotted perfectly and keeps the reader fully engrossed. A read i would certainly recommend.

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What a debut!. A great story divided into two time frames in two countries dealing with family issues, alcoholism and the shocking Aboriginal history of removing children. A fantastic read. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more by this author

a novel of the stealing of Aboriginal children through the eyes of a dysfunctional marriage/family. All of the characters are complex and fully fleshed but it was so removed from the tragedy of the lost children that it lost impact. If you had never contemplated the ripple effects of Australian government policies, it might have been a stronger novel but I'm well familiar with the subject (I recommend Doris Kartinyeri's Kick the Tin as an ownvoices

A really good dual years story. Set in Aus and a debut book. Isla doesn’t want to go home as she’s been sober for over 8 weeks and it’ll mean seeing people she hasn’t for years. But when her dad rings saying he is under suspicion for a missing woman 30 years earlier she feels she has no choice. And it’s a rollercoaster of secrets and lies and family bonds. Really enjoyed. 4/5 on goodreads.

This story is set in the 1960s and the 1990s in Australia and England.

Isla receives a rare phone call from her dad, explaining he’s a suspect in a missing person case. She flies out to Australia to support him.

The main characters in this story are two families who lived next door to each other. They both had their issues and problems and there was a lot going on.

The characters are quite well developed but I didn’t really warm to any of them. I wasn’t that interested in what happened to them and just kept reading out of curiosity.

The pace of the novel is quite slow and it plods along, slowly revealing what happened to Mandy, the neighbour who went missing. This also affects the relationship between Isla and her dad and this shifts throughout the book.

There were moments where there could have been a lot of tension and suspense but it was lacking that, for me. I think it’s because I wasn’t that interested in the characters.

I didn’t know about the removal of Aboriginal children and would like to learn more about that. The author has obviously researched this and the emotion surrounding this is well done.

The ending fell a bit flat for me, it was predictable and convenient.

Overall, the idea behind the book is good. The author has researched the time period well and the emotions of the characters are strongly felt.
Unfortunately, I found it a bit slow paced for me and wasn’t invested in the characters.

Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book for review.

Beautifully written,the story flowed and I lived the emotions it was as if the characters were in the room. Very sensitive but I felt truthful writing regarding the taking of the Aboriginal Children,not an easy subject to cover but wonderfully woven into the story and certainly made me think not only about the children but how it effected so many lives.

This is a well-written novel by someone who obviously loves Australia and has done her homework on its recent past. Part mystery, part social history, The Silence is a consuming read which delves into social attitudes in 1960s Australia. A good read.

This was an interesting premise and the author revealed clever layers to the plot at a good pace. I enjoyed it and would recommend. I liked alternating points of view and the strong female characters that didn't seem like binary tropes but showed the frustrations and limitations of their time.

I am thoroughly impressed with this novel and astounded that it’s a debut from this author. Sensitively handled, beautifully written, intoxicating, demanding, heartbreaking. I could not pigeonhole this book if I tried... The brutal themes explored throughout are done so with empathy, grace and quiet reverence. Alcoholism, domestic abuse, infidelity, childhood trauma all underpinned by the horrific reality of children being torn from their families. I have no former knowledge about the plight of the Aboriginal families of last century but feel grateful that I have read this book to help me understand a little more about this tragic part of history.

I cannot wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Edited to prevent review of incorrect book recently read with similar title. Correct review sent several months ago. My apologies for error.

Sorry really is the hardest word. A gripping realistic portrait of Australia where a churning riptide of violence and guilt are rooted in the country's history and still reverberate today. A far cry from Summer Bay and Neighbours. The story is relayed in chapters alternating between 1967 and 1997, it is beautifully written and hard to put down. It is a mystery about a murder but it's also about family, tauma, forgiveness, brutality, and alcoholism. But above all it aims to break the silence about the atrociousness of 'stolen generation' of Aboriginal children perpetrated by the colonising British and the Australian authorities.

An urgent phone call from Australia brings Isla Green back to her parents’ home in Australia. Although they are getting older it is a far more serious matter that brings her back. Neighbours she remembered from her childhood went missing in 1966.Why is her father considered a person of interest after all these years.
Jumping from 1966 to 1997 and hearing the story of Mandy and Steve and her parents who were their neighbours is vital to the mystery .Islas memories of that time tie the story together and it is gradually pieced together.
Who is guilty and whose reasons are suspect. A dark period of Australia past is laid bare and I would have liked to know about the aboriginal role in the story. However this is still a gripping and disturbing story beautifully told.