The Borough Press Silence

In 1997 Isla Green was living in London and, awakened at 2am one night by a phone call from her father in Australia, she knew immediately something was wrong. Her father never called. He hated the telephone and always wrote letters.Thirty years ago, when Isla was living with her parents in Australia, their next door neighbours were Mandy and Steve, another young couple. When Mandy disappeared suddenly it was thought she was escaping from a broken marriage to begin a new life, but she hasn’t been seen or heard from since and her family are trying to contact her. The police now believe Mandy’s disappearance was suspicious, and since Joe Green was the last person to see her alive, he is a person of interest.Reluctantly, Isla makes plans to return to Australia after ten years back in England, little realising what secrets will be uncovered. The more she learns the more questions are raised. Is her father really capable of something as terrible as murder? What does her mother believe happened? Both young couples were having problems all those years ago. Isla’s mother, Louisa was homesick, unhappy and expecting her second child. She wanted to go back home to England.Mandy and Steve also had issues. Steve’s job as a policeman was getting him down, a certain aspect troubling his conscience, coupled with the fact that he was desperate for a child. Mandy was adamant she didn’t want to be a mother and wouldn’t be swayed.The story alternates in dual timelines between the 1960s and 1990s, paced steadily as the fully developed but dysfunctional characters’ lives begin to unravel realistically and irrevocably. Told mainly rom Isla’s and Mandy’s perspectives, The Silence is atmospheric, complex and powerful, exploring the knock on effects of alcoholism, family secrets, adultery and an utterly shameful practice that I was unaware of until now.An extremely accomplished debut novel — dark, disturbing and multilayered.

I came to this novel with high expectations in view of its generally very warm reception. It was also the first novel I read after Jane Harper's 'The Survivors', a very much better book, I think. There are some coincidental links between the two: both are set, in part at least, in Australia, and in both the source of the action is firmly rooted in the past. Susan Allot uses the constant switching between past and present that has become so fashionable recently. The technique may or may not work, and here I feel, it simply makes the movement of the novel that much more laboured. Whereas in Harper's book, the writing is often dynamic and evocative, here it is flat. There is nowhere where tension pulls us into a closer relationship with the characters, least of all sadly at the end. The characters themselves seem to have no vital lives outside their roles in the plot. An attempt is made with Steve, but I find it difficult to accept him as a credible creation. There might be better to come from the author, but I would hope for something more dynamic and individual than we are offered here.

I couldn't put this book down, it gripped me from page 1. 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.Please write another book soon I read this in a day and half as it was so gripping and wonderful.

This must be one of the best debut novels out in years, it is so accomplished. The author’s note and acknowledgements give some insight into the huge amount of work and sensitivity Susan Allott has put in to get this book right - a book which incorporates a compelling and entertaining mystery along with an exploration of the treatment of Aboriginal children in the 20th century. The mystery as a stand-alone would be a remarkable story itself, with believable and well-drawn characters and deftly paced plotting. The exploration of the systematic removal of Aboriginal children from their families makes the book outstanding. I devoured it but it will stay with me. Highly recommend.

My favourite book style is dual narrative, preferably with different time spans. The Silence starts in 1997 in a flat in London. Isla answers the call from her father , Joe, phoning from Sydney, Australia.30 years ago, in the summer of 1967, the Green's neighbour Mandy disappears. Joe is under suspicion of her murder.This book sheds light on The Great Australian Silence: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children removed from their homes and rehoused. The story keeps the reader guessing and the ending is superb.Although this book covers an emotive subject that I wasn't aware of, it is the actual writing style I found so satisfying.Take for instance the opening scene:'In a basement flat in Hackney, the telephone rings. It's two in the morning. Isla Green stands in the hallway, pyjamaed, barely awake...No tide of shame waits for her, no bloom of pain.' You might ask what's so special about that? For me, the simplicity of those sentences transported me to a flat in Hackney! No waffle, no fluff, just clear, simple statements.Allott's descriptions are equally powerful in their simplicity and clarity:' Isla looks out at the street where she grew up. The houses crouch low under a huge sky, each with a tidy lawn at the front, manicured hedges; wide passages between one building and the next. The small, identical bungalows on the ocean side'. I saw it, I was in the scene, because Allott has used such simple words low, huge, tidy, wide, small.Description can sometimes be exhausting to read, but Allott isn't frightened to use every day words to enable the reader to feel the passage.I am a writer and Allott's style of writing is something I aspire to, to cut all the dross and get to the nub of the story. Her use of closed third point of view, is sublime, with each character's individual voice shining through.I can't believe this is a debut novel. Susan Allott, please keep writing!