I am an unmitigated fool for a novel set in Australia as these novels have populated my favorites list with high frequency for the last couple of years. The Silence was no exception. Focusing on some of the darker secrets of Australia's past, it sheds light on the practice of taking small children away from Aboriginal families and putting them in state-run homes full of violence and neglect. A horrific policy that caused years of heartbreak and suffering.

In 1997, we travel with Isla, A daughter of Australia, who currently works and lives in the UK. She is going back home to celebrate her father's birthday but finds he may be in a fair bit of trouble when she arrives. A next door neighbor, Mandy, who Isla vaguely recalls from her early years, has gone missing but it isn't a new development. It occurred thirty years ago and her father may have been the last person to see her before her disappearance.

This novel sets an addictive tone as we examine the lives of a number of very unhappy people and jump back and forth in time to reveal what happened thirty years ago. Things were rather difficult for Mandy and her husband, Steve, and Isla's parents, Joe and Louisa, living next door. The story isn't gripping, as such, but it does get under your skin making it difficult to set this book aside to focus on mundane day-to-day tasks. I felt such empathy for Mandy and was wishing Isla success as she dug for the truth and discovered more than she expected. This is a great novel, much enjoyed on a bright sunny day when lockdown at home due to Covid19 calls for an engrossing distraction.

This book was a bit disappointing. It has a very slow place and was a bit of a slog to get through. I hoped that the pace would pick up further in but sadly never did. I live this authors books but unfortunately this one was a bit of a letdown. Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to review this title.

A thoroughly interesting riveting read. Set in Sydney in 1997 with detailed flashbacks to 1967. It tells the story of two couples, next door neighbors,in the early days of their marriage. Joe and Louisa had moved from England to settle in Australia. Joe loves it and does well in his job. Louisa hates it and regrets the move. They have a young daughter Isla.. Louisa suffered post natal depression after her daughters birth and now is pregnant and wishes to return to England.Joe,whose father was an aggressive alcoholic is dead against such a move and is himself becoming an alcoholic. Their daughter Isla is very friendly with Mandy the neighbor who is married to Steve a policeman. Steve is very keen to start a family whilst Mandy is not, although it is clear she enjoys being with Isla. Steve's job is to forcibly remove young aboriginal children from struggling families and take them to the requisite institution. The story moves between the 2 time periods as we learn that Mandy disappeared in 1967 and Joe who had a fling with her is accused of her murder.
It is a fascinating, shameful period in Australia's history which forms the backdrop to this very human story. So well written with interesting characters that develop in such different ways over the 30 years.Highly recommended

Set in Australia in 1967 and 1997 this book lifts the veil on the Stolen Generation, the forced removal of Aboriginal children. It also covers the misogynist attitudes prevalent at the time and how well or poorly the £10 Pommie immigrants settled into their new habitat.
A compelling tale which gradually reveals the history of those years.

I read this in one sitting on a Sunday afternoon. A book about family secrets and lies, it tells the story of a young woman who's father is a suspect in a past murder case. She wants to believe that her father is innocent and returns from London, where she's been living and working, to her childhood home in Sydney to help him and to try to find out what really took place all those years ago. Long forgotten memories from her childhood begin to resurface as she attempts to unravel what really happened. But many things are not how they appear on the surface, the plots twists and turns, and it becomes very clear that her father isn't the only person with something to hide.

I thought the book was a really enjoyable read. It's well written, with well drawn characters and a compelling plot, and has good pace. I liked the descriptions of the Australian setting and the writing captured the atmosphere of the 1960s particularly well.

The story would make a great Netflix series.

Enjoyed this a lot. It was an easy read and the story kept me engaged all the way through. Although it flips from past to present, it flowed and was an enjoyable read. Loved the characters and the Australian setting, which was a little different but really set the scene.

Highly recommended.

Thank you Harper Collins UK and NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to review this book.

This book was an easy read the writing style was really nice so I did read the book fairly quickly. I liked the style of telling the story over 2 time periods 1967 and 1996. However I didnt really find the mystery compelling if anything that was a little predictable. What I did enjoy was learning about Australia's dark past and the stolen children.

This is a rich and powerfully written book, exploring the impact of untold secrets both on a family and a national scale. The story follows a family at the centre of a missing person investigation - their neighbour Mandy has not been seen for thirty years, and now Isla’s father seems to be a suspect. As Isla returns home to Australia to try and uncover the truth, a second narrative thread takes us back thirty years to see the events unfold from Mandy’s perspective. A story of love and deceit and broken marriages plays out against the chilling backdrop of the Stolen Generation, Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families by the authorities. In both narratives, the damage of hiding the truth has repercussions that last decades. Absolutely gripping.

I found this SO hard going, was just too slow paced for me. If a book doesn't grab me properly by around 25% I find my brain starts wandering off, making shopping lists and rearranging storage cupboards!

A thriller set in Australia, whilst the storyline is that of an interesting one I just couldn't click with it.

The characters have no redeeming features which doesn't help at all and makes a difficult read even more so.

Sadly just not for me but I think I'll definitely be in the minority!

Thanks to netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC.

The Silence is the debut novel from Susan Allott. The novel follows Isla Green, an Australian born to expatriate British parents.

Isla, living in London, is awoken one night from a call from her father. He reveals that he is the main suspect in a murder cold case from Isla's youth. Unbeknown to Isla's parents, she travels back to Australia with her own demons in tow, and with a murder mystery unlocking hidden memories that even Isla wasnt aware were locked away.

The Silence is a gripping, thrilling novel, keeping you on your toes at all times. I would definitely read more from Susan Allott in the future.

Thank you to Harper Collins UK and Harper Fiction for the copy of the book to review.

This is a tough, important, heartbreaking, moving, difficult read. It's about family, betrayal and the horrific secrets of a country and I found it so emotional.

It's written from the perspective of a recovering alcoholic, living in London, who is drawn back to her family home in Australia where her father is under suspicion involving a woman's disappearance. The book moves from the late 1960's to late 1990's and is told from the perspective of Isla - the returning daughter and Mandy - the missing woman.

It's gripping and I rate it an overall 3* Good Read as it's a well written mystery, but, prepare yourself, it's not an easy read.

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the opportunity to preview this book in exchange for my honest review.

A gripping and well-written book, which I found hard to put down. I would definitely recommend this.

This is a thriller set in Australia, about 2 families who live side by side.

Isla receives a phone call in the middle of the night from her father in Australia. Their neighbour, Mandy disappeared 30 years before, assumed to have left for a new life, but is now suspected to have been murdered. As Isla’s father was the last two see her alive he is the prime suspect in the murder.

Isla returns to Australia to support her father and to find out what really happened.

All of the characters in this story are unreliable witnesses, and with the flashbacks, this makes for a very interesting thriller.

It was interesting to learn about the forced removal of Aboriginal children but I did feel that this potentially powerful storyline was overshadowed by the mystery of what happened to Mandy.

Also, none of the characters had any redeeming features, which made for a quite difficult depressing reading experience.

An absolutely murder mystery set in Australia which is an absolutely incredible setting. Loved the writing style of this author too xx

Loved this, don't know why Australia is producing such good, intense thrillers at the moment but this is one of them. Very atmospheric, character-driven, whodunnit but in the end its a whydunnit. It deals with some gritty issues, childlessness, treatment of the indigenous people of Australia, alcoholism, and keeps a gripping storyline going.

I was transported to another place and time while reading this book. I really felt I was 'there' in 1960s' Australia and could picture the characters and the street where they lived so well that it all seemed real. The writing was wonderful without ever being intrusive and pulling me out of the world of the story.

I loved the character of Mandy in particular and really cared about what happened to her. Even the minor characters (e.g. Andrea on her bike!) were very vividly drawn and real-seeming.

It wasn't as much of a page-turner as some books I've read recently, but that was fine - the pace suited the story.

I will definitely look out for more books by this author.

Every now and then I need a break from my usual reading habits, I look for a book that’s different to my usual ‘go to reads’, I read the book description for The Silence by Susan Allott and it immediately piqued my interest. This book has a mystery at its heart, but it has so much more to offer, it’s a brilliantly written book that touches on a shocking time in Australian history.


The Silence Is a tale that explores abusive and toxic relationships, and buried disturbing secrets. I must admit although I really enjoyed this book I struggled to feel any sympathy or connection to its characters, they are all flawed in some way, which made them pretty unlikable in many ways. Although I really enjoyed this book I was slightly disappointed that there wasn’t more emphasis on the separation of children from their Aboriginal families by the State, as I shamefully admit I know had no knowledge of this period of Australian history. Never the less The Silence made for an enjoyable read, and one I’m sure readers of historical fiction will thoroughly enjoy

As the author tells us at the end, this book is a vehicle for raising awareness of what happened in Australia when aboriginal children were snatched from their families and put into dubious care homes. Steve and Mandy live next door to Louisa and Joe. They have a child, Isla. Mandy often takes care of Isla as her mother is not happy and wants to return to England where she is from. Mandy does not want children of her own but her husband does. He is in the police and part of his job is to take these children from their homes. One day, Louisa ups and leaves and takes Isla to live in London with her mother. Mandy comforts Joe and they have a short-lived romance until Louisa comes back. In the meantime, Steve snaps and one day he takes a child for himself and Mandy to bring up as their own. Thirty years later the events of that time come to light as Mandy is declared missing and Joe is a suspect. Isla who now lives in London, returns to help her father clear his name. I thought the plot had a few holes and the characters were not particularly well developed, but this often happens when a novel is based on an issue.

This novel is many things, but its not what I expected.

From the blurb on Netgalley I was expecting a whodunnit – a what happened to Isla’s neighbour Mandy in the 1960s and whodunnit?

What I got was an almost boiling hot, suffocating novel about social and racial tensions in an Australian suburb in the 1960s. The stifling hot weather was a character in itself, bearing down in the neighbourhood and adding to the tensions.

In a cold and dreary London Isla is summoned back to the house she grew up in, after her father is questioned over the disappearance of their neighbour Mandy in the 1960s.

The plotline flits between the present in 1997, and the past where Isla’s family, newly arrived in Australia are struggling. A subplot weaves through the story of the forcible taking of aboriginal children from their families and forced into institutions.

Somewhere Mandy disappears, and her disappearance is not noticed until 1997 until her brother comes looking for her about an inheritance.

What emerges is a story of secrets. We all have secrets, but the secrets revealed her were unpleasant to say the least and goes to show that you shouldn’t always trust your narrator.

The book left me with a rather nasty taste in my mouth. A powerful novel, very long and hot like the Sydney climate.

It was great to see a new location and theme in crime fiction and I loved the blending of history with the fiction, but I felt it lacked sufficient tension to make it a four star read