I was utterly gripped by this brilliant book from start to finish. On the surface it’s a straightforward and compelling mystery about what happened the night Denny Tran was killed and why. However, beneath the surface there is so much more going on here. Lien writes with an unflinching power about the struggles of refugees trying to assimilate to life in Australia and the way they have to fight against years of generational trauma and violence, not to mention the discrimination or passivity they are forced to endure from the authorities. All That’s Left Unsaid is razor sharp with wit, intelligence and a great deal of poignancy in the way it so expertly portrays the community of Cabramatta. It is set in the 1990’s which is skilfully woven into the story with references and cultural influences. This is also a story about family and what it means to different people. The narrative follows Denny’s sister Ky as she searches for the truth about her brother’s violent death, but her narrative is interrupted occasionally with chapters from the viewpoint of the silent witnesses to Denny’s murder. This gives the story an incredible multilayered complexity that forces the reader to understand the numerous factors at play in the lives of these characters. Moving, thought provoking, unflinching and heartbreaking, I couldn’t recommend All That’s Left Unsaid more highly.

This book is a fascinating insight into second generation Vietnamese culture after the parents have escaped Vietnam following the end of the war. It is based in a true location of a suburb outside Sydney which has many Vietnamese refugees living among the Australian white community. The story centres around Ky whose straight A student brother was murdered one evening while celebrating his high school graduation and where 17 other people were present. No one saw anything apparently and Ky sets out to find out what happened to her brother and why. This book is not a fast paced murder mystery or a police procedural book but it is beautifully written and explores relationships between friends and family. It also covers prejudice from both the Australian versus Vietnamese but also the first generation refugees and their struggle to bring up their children in the Vietnamese way but within the confines of Australia.

An excellent debut with some very interesting characters. The plot is not just a sister investigating why her brother had been killed and who killed him but much more a vivid and often hard to read description of Vietnamese immigrants in Australia. Add that to how the difference between the generations is very well told and you’ve got the whole.
I did enjoy it but I didn’t find it was one I couldn’t put down. Maybe a bit repetitive so that took away some of my interest.

Tracey Lien's debut novel takes us through the lives of a Vietnamese family and their circle of acquaintances as they come to terms with the violent murder of their beloved Denny.

When a young Vietnamese Boy Denny, is brutally murdered for no apparent reason in a bustling restaurant there are no witnesses . Denny's parents refuse a postmortem. His sister Ky a journalist returns to Cabramatta, a Sydney suburb to seek some answers. What happened that night ? Why doesn't anyone come forward? In an area stricken with migrants ,poverty and a severe heroine epidemic does anyone care? Ky is determined to uncover a past and present that might lead her to solve her brothers murder.A gradual series of family events reveal themselves in a page turning quest to seek the truth. Themes of loss, grief and displacement depict a family torn with grief and survival .

A richly narrative text with heavily drawn characters this was a profound insight into the cultural differences and prejudice Vietnamese migrants face when trying to integrate into Australian society.

I would recommend this debut and perfect for those who enjoy a slow burn mystery with some family drama. If you enjoyed similar books from Celeste Ng and Brit Bennet this is one for your radar.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. This a tough and gritty read, difficult to read at times. But a really great debut covering very topical issues.

A heartbreaking and thought provoking book about family, racism, grief. There's some very sad moment but the author deals with the very tragic plot and topic in an excellent way, always keeping the attention alive.
I throughly love the plot, the characters, and the storytelling.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Just let him go. These are the words Ky Tran will forever regret. The words she spoke when her parents called to ask if they should let her younger brother Denny out to celebrate his high school graduation with friends. That night, Denny--optimistic, guileless, brilliant Denny--is brutally murdered inside a busy restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta, a refugee enclave facing violent crime, an indifferent police force, and the worst heroin epidemic in Australian history.
Returning home to Cabramatta for the funeral, Ky learns that the police are stumped by Denny's case: a dozen people were at Lucky 8 restaurant when Denny died, but each of the bystanders claim to have seen nothing.
Desperately hoping that understanding what happened might ease her suffocating guilt, Ky sets aside her grief and determines to track down the witnesses herself. With each encounter, she peels back another layer of the place that shaped her and Denny, exposing the seeds of violence that were planted well before that fateful celebration dinner: by colonialism, by the war in Vietnam, and by the choices they've all made to survive.
Alternating between Ky's voice and the perspectives of the witnesses, Tracey Lien's extraordinary debut is at once heart-pounding and heart-rending as it probes the intricate bonds of friendship, family, and community through an unforgettable cast of characters, all connected by a devastating crime.

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

This book is so powerful and unflinching in it's narrative. Although I found this really hard to read and listen to in parts, it is a must read if you like an unapologetic illustration of a culture you could know little about - the explanation are greatly detailed. People in Vietnamese culture are often viewed as second class citizens. Although this novel is fiction it is dark, deep thoughtful look at the bystander effect within criminality. It pulls you in makes you want the truth as much as the characters. Although this book was heartbreaking and devastating I couldn't stop reading I needed the correct conclusion for the family involved.

Did we get it - you will have to decide when you read - I really hope Tracey Lien writes more because she is a fantastic writer that pulls you in instantly.

What an amazing debut - I really loved this book although it was completely heartbreaking and made me cry! As a white Brit living in the UK, I know very little about the culture of the characters in the story or how common their narrative, but I found the author's writing very engaging and thought provoking and I look forward to further books.
thank you to netgalley and HQ for an advance copy of this book

“Just let him go” are words Ky (pronounced Key) Tran will forever regret. The advice she gave when her parents called to ask if they should let her younger brother Denny out to celebrate his high school graduation with friends.

That night, Denny - kooky, grade-A student Denny - is brutally murdered inside a busy restaurant in the insalubrious Sydney suburb of Cabramatta, a refugee enclave facing endemic violent crime and an at best indifferent police force.

Returning home for the funeral, Ky learns that her brother's case has no leads; the police seem keen to sign Denny off as a gang member or junkie and close the file. Even though several people were present at Denny's murder, each bystander claims to have seen nothing; they are all staying silent, maybe because violent deaths are thought to bring bad luck or maybe out of fear of the possible repercussions.

Determined to uncover the truth and enraged by her parents seemingly lack of attention to finding out what really happened to their beloved Denny, Ky utilises her journalistic skills and tracks down and questions the witnesses herself. Still, what she learns goes beyond what happened that dreadful night.

Ky begins to unpick several generations' worth of trauma and their silences, and through this, she begins to expose the complex issues weighing on those present the night Denny died. As she pares away the oft grimy layers of the place that shaped her, she must confront many painful memories - of refugee camps; to schools where teachers thought that they were being inclusive by simply trying to pronounce names correctly and yet didn't ask about the bruises round a child's neck; to drug gangs who name themselves “5T” which translates to “Childhood Without Love”; to families who escaped war to find a better life but hanker for the one that they lost - to all that’s left unsaid. And once those truths have finally been spoken, how can any of them move on?

I expected a fast-paced thriller, part police procedural, but this book is way more than that. It’s an intense, eye-opening read that’ll give you emotional whiplash - but that’s a good thing, right?

When my wife asked me what this book was about, I told her it was about a young woman trying to find out more about her young brother’s death. Why did he die? Who killed him? And then I added… but that doesn’t really matter. And it’s true, this isn’t your usual thriller or crime novel. It is a raw – something moving, sometimes funny – look at the life of immigrants and their children. It is about pain, about expectations, about a desire to belong, about identity. And still, about friendships, about families and relationships. Multiple narrators give the story an incredible depth and make for a truly unforgettable read.

Three words to describe it. Beautiful. Unforgettable. Unique.

Do I like the cover? It’s gorgeous!

Within a deprived suburb of Sydney two young girls, Minnie and Ky, forge a friendship within the Vietnamese community. Ky’s family take the neglected. Minnie under their wing. As they grow up the girls drift apart and move away.
Years later Ky returns home after her younger brother is murdered. The community however has shut down and no one is talking about how he died. Ky questions all those involved and her investigations reconnect her with Minnie.

How far this book accurately reflects the Vietnamese community or what it was like to grow up in Australia as a refugee, I could not judge but I found many points laboured. The overworking of scenes and some clumsy writing created a slow and drawn out read. There was a lack of connection with the characters for me. The storyline was an original one and with some better edting I feel it could have been sharper and more engaging.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review All That Is Left Unsaid.

All That’s Left Unsaid is a powerful, heartbreaking debut novel - ostensibly a murder mystery but in reality so much more than that, and one that certainly made me think.

Ky is a Vietnamese-Australian woman who returns home to Sydney following the murder of her brother Denny. Although he died in a busy local restaurant, everyone who was there claims not to have seen what happened. Ky, a journalist, is determined to get to the truth - and in doing so shines a light on the community in which they live, a largely immigrant community where drugs have had a devastating impact.

Alternating between Ky’s point of view and those of the witnesses she questions, this is a book which is ultimately character-driven but also explores so much - friendship, family, grief, community and the struggles of being a first generation immigrant. It is a fascinating insight - and one that led to me to explore more about the real life neighbourhood of Cabramatta and it’s chequered history. It is a book that kept me engaged and left me thinking long after I put it down - which is always a sign of a good book!

A solid debut from Tracey Lim, with the thread of grief running deeply throughout a whole cast of characters. Shifting perspectives can sometimes be a little jarring but they were beautifully written here, giving us a real sense of how Denny’s death affected the whole community.

1996: Cabramatta, Sydney. When Ky Tran's parents ask her if they should allow her younger brother Denny go out with his friends for a meal to celebrate his high school graduation, she could not have foreseen what her simple response of ‘Just let him go.’ would mean for them all. For somehow, during a quiet meal at restaurant in central Cabramatta, Denny is brutally murdered.

When Ky returns home for Denny's funeral, she is crippled by the guilt she feels about her part in putting Denny in the path of danger, but seeing her parents shell-shocked and unable to engage with the reality of this situation drives her to action. The police seem indifferent to the fact that none of the witnesses admit to having seem what happened to Denny, and assume that he was just another victim of the gang and drug problems that plague this Vietnamese enclave of Sydney. But Ky is sure her brother was a hard-working boy who would never involve himself in anything illegal... isn't she? Determined to uncover the truth, Ky hunts down the witnesses for herself, convinced that her Vietnamese heritage will be enough to loosen tongues. What she discovers goes way beyond the events of a single night, delving deep into the silence of a community that carries the weight of loss and disaffection with the country that was supposed to be their new home. 

All That's Left Unsaid is a powerful and affecting novel that explores how a shocking incident can set in motion a chain of events that exposes the rawness at the heart of a grieving refugee family, and the wider community in which they live. The story is set during the heroin epidemic that affected Cabramatta in the 1990s, which particularly hit hard upon the young members of the Vietnamese families who had settled there, and begins with the arrival home of a young Vietnamese-Australian woman to attend the funeral of her brutally murdered younger brother.

Ky is carrying with her the guilt of her believed complicity in her brother's death, and is overwhelmed by his loss, but her sorrow is soon transformed into anger by the seeming disinterest of her parents to find out who was responsible, the inability of the police to make headway by design or incompetence, and the inexplicable silence of the people who were present while her brother was beaten to death.

As Ky tracks down the principal witnesses, we hear them talk about the lives they live, the way their family life and heritage has shaped them, and their reasons for keeping what they know to themselves. It is a slow burn story that unfurls ever so gradually, and as we learn the truth about so many aspects of this troubled community, we also begin to understand the part played by the dynamics of Ky's own family, and the significance of a person from their past.

Lien's choice of characters is nothing short of genius. They cut across a range of ages, from the oldest members of the community who remember well the lives they left behind and what they went through to settle in a new country, to the very youngest who are going through the kind of upbringing that Ky and her brother experienced. Lien uses their stories beautifully to make us see the things that have changed over the years, and those which have remained the same, on an intimate level and in a wider sense. I cannot convey quite how brilliantly this works in a brief review, but I am mightily impressed with how she makes you consider every angle of their relationships, the impact of their cultural heritage, and the many contradictions that make up their identities. This is not a book that clumps people together into an amorphous mass that can be easily stereotyped, instead it lays bare their differences.

As debuts go, this is astonishingly good. It combines an unconventional murder mystery with a complex family tale, and offers sharp insight into the pressures from within and without on migrant communities. It is unflinching, bringing you up sharp with tough descriptions of trauma, heartbreak, deprivation, discrimination, and loss, which are difficult to read. But it also has golden moments that make you feel the sincere emotions that flow when the words which have been unsaid for so long are finally spoken, allowing barriers to be overcome. It is spellbinding!

Cabramatta, Sydney. 1996. Seventeen-year-old Denny Tran is brutally murdered while celebrating his high school graduation with his friends. Everyone in the busy restaurant claims to have seen nothing, their fear of retribution holding the truth hostage. Denny’s older sister Ky refuses to accept their denials or the police force’s indifference and embarks on her own quest to find out what happened to her brother. But is she ready for what she will learn?

This is a truly remarkable debut. Harrowing, moving and powerful, this is the story of the aftermath of a tragedy. A tragedy shrouded in such secrecy that the truth is almost impossible to find. This isn’t a book you simply read but one where you live every grief-laden word, the loss and heartbreak so raw that it almost makes you weep. Though marketed as crime and mystery fiction, the novel has more of a literary vibe as while Denny’s murder and the mystery surrounding it are part of the essence of the book, the other topics felt more prominent in the narrative than the crime itself. I personally loved this but am aware that some hard-core thriller lovers might struggle with a more literary novel.

Exploring themes such as grief, family dynamics and cultural and societal divides alongside darker topics such as racism and prejudice, author Tracey Lien examines the Vietnamese community and how immigration to Australia affected the generations. I knew nothing about many of the topics covered in this book before reading and enjoyed being educated while I read as I think it is important to read books that expand our knowledge of the world and other cultures.

As Denny’s family try to come to terms with his death, they also struggle to fathom how this all-round good kid ended up the victim of such a vicious crime. His older sister, Ky, is our main character. Ky is feeling overwhelming guilt as she is the one who convinced her strict mother to allow Denny to attend the celebration the night he was killed and her heartache and torment is palpable. We also see how she struggles with the different way in which her Vietnamese parents grieve his loss, a cultural divide that leaves her feeling even more alone. It is just one example of the divide between immigrants and their children, who are more immersed in Australian society than their elders, and how it affects their understanding of each other.
The other characters are equally as compelling and I especially liked that the author ensured that Denny felt as real as any other character thanks to the flashbacks that are peppered throughout the narrative. His life is one that was extinguished far too soon and I mourned him, the tragedy, horror and devastating impact of his murder lingering over every page.

Complex, memorable and heart-shattering, All That’s Left Unsaid is a book I’d highly recommend. An emotional journey that I couldn’t put down, this outstanding debut highlights Tracey Lien as an author to watch and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

Cabramatta was the centre of the world for Vietnamese refugee Ky Tran. But after she left to work as a journalist she has dismissed in memory and emotion a lot of the situations, cultures and people she knew there. But then when her brother Denny is killed she has to return.
Astonishing to find that Cabramatta is a real place and how immensely strong the writing was by this author of the life there for refugees. It was also a place that throughout the 1990s experienced a heroin epidemic. That is why although the author was a child at this time the Tran family and its tragedies seem so convincing.
I was swept up and saddened by the prejudices against the Vietnamese -"You want to be dumb like a white kid" or the misteling of names in school to humiliate, but also sad about the violence within the families exposed to the new life in Australia. How all the fathers seemed to be alcoholics and all the mothers 'Asian dragons' virtually (if not actually) beating their children into achieving high grades and perfect lives.
The unpeeling of the facts behind her brother's death opened up so many characters - Denny himself, her parents, teacher Sharon Faulkner, her friend Minnie and Flora and Thien.
If seemed at times a hopeless world. But as with Buddhism later contemplation revealed a higher truth.
Amazing novel . There was no irony in the death occurring at the restaurant Lucky 8.

Set in a suburb of Sydney, Australia, where a vibrant Vietnamese community exists, this literary fiction novel is emotional and evocative. This often dark and poignant story is insightful and thought-provoking as a young journalist, Ky, investigates the horrific death of her younger brother.

The investigative element of this story is increasingly suspenseful as Ky interviews connections and witnesses to her brother's murder. Still, it's the exploration of the Vietnamese community's hopes, superstitions and values that makes the story original.

I like this story's believable characters, insightful writing and resonating qualities.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

I was so absorbed by this book that I read it in just 2 evenings, I literally could not put it down.

All That’s Left Unsaid explores the experiences of Vietnamese refugees to Australia in the 1990s, dealing with issues including poverty, language barriers, cultural differences, gangs, and racism. It also highlights the heroin epidemic which happened (in real life) in the Australian town of Cabramatta during the time this book was set, including the vulnerability of Vietnamese teenagers.

Ky is a really likeable main character who, in her search to find out the reasons behind her brother’s death, brings to light the human experiences and pressures on
Vietnamese refugees and their children. This book was emotive, powerful and heart-breaking as it grapples issues such as loyalty, family and community distrust of the police.

An outstanding debut novel, it had a similar feel to Everything I never told you so if you are a fan of Celeste Ng I would definitely check it out.

All That's Left Unsaid tells the story of a town called Cabramatta in Sydney in the 1990s, where a lot of Vietnamese families have taken refuge. We discover very near the beginning that seventeen year old Denny has been murdered at a restaurant after his high school graduation and despite the number of witnesses, they all decide to keep silent. His elder sister Ky, a journalist now living in Melbourne, comes back home and is determined to find out what happened by talking to the witnesses herself.

This is Lien's debut novel and is a wonderful mix of suspense with political and racial tension. By the end of the novel, you really feel like you know the town and its community. Different generations of families, very different characters within the community, have their voice and I loved this. It felt very much like Celeste Ng's novel Everything I Never Told You, where one family's life is explored, with multiple POVs and a community's racism on show. I wanted to find out what happened to Denny here but I also was sad to discover the truth and the ending isn't a happy time either but characters learn and grow.

All in all, a great novel that helped me explore topics I knew little about before. Highly recommend!