The Silence by Susan Allott
It is 1997, and in a basement flat in Hackney Isla Green is awakened by a call in the middle of the night: her father, Joe, phoning from Sydney.
30 years ago, in the suffocating heat of summer 1967, the Greens’ next-door neighbour Mandy disappeared. Joe claims he thought she had gone to start a new life; but now Mandy’s family is trying to reconnect, and there is no trace of her. Isla’s father was allegedly the last person to see her alive, and he’s under suspicion of murder.
Back home in Sydney, Isla's search for the truth takes her back to 1967, when two couples lived side by side on a quiet street by the sea. Could her father be capable of doing something terrible? How much does her mother know? And is there another secret in this community, one which goes deeper into Australia’s colonial past, which has held them in a conspiracy of silence?
Deftly exploring the deterioration of relationships and the devastating truths we keep from those we love, The Silence is a stunning debut from a rising literary star.
About the Author:
Susan Allott is from the UK but spent part of her twenties in Australia, desperately homesick but trying to make Sydney her home. In 2016 she completed the Faber Academy course, during which she started writing this novel. She now lives in south London with her two children and her very Australian husband.
Review
‘The Silence’ deals with the sensitive subject of forced separation of children from their aboriginal parents during the 1960’s in Australia and its done with aplomb. It centres around the mystery of a missing woman who was Isla’s neighbour in this era but at a later date, the late 1990’s she has only been declared as being missing then.
This book reels you in slowly but then seduces you with the character of Mandy, the missing woman. How I wanted to be on that beach with her and Isla and then sitting in the back yard. She was very easy to envisage. This isn’t a book that is going to fill you with joy, far from it. It feels like everything in this situation is hopeless. All the characters have no hope left in their lives and it was shattering reading some of the passages. I can’t really say too much as it gives away plot lines and that would spoil your enjoyment of reading this book.
The narrative deals mainly with the missing neighbour but in the background is the forced separation subject. Some of the scenes were the children were being removed were horrible but what got me was the image of Mandy’s husband and his reaction to having to carry out these separations. It’s a shameful period of Australian history and thankfully it has been portrayed in this way. It has been written with an empathic hand though and by the end of it I was heartbroken over the ending of this part of the book. It was heartfelt and poignant and there is one scene in particular I will remember for quite awhile.
This is a slow paced thriller and the beauty of this is in the unrevealing of all the plot point and them coming together in a satisfying conclusion. You would not think that this is Susan’s debut novel as it is filled with touching moments, words and scenes which stop you in your tracks, slow burning but completely enticing. You need to read it!
