The Silence: A Novel

Written by Susan Allott

Narrated by Melle Stewart

Combining the emotional power and dual narrative style of Before We Were Yours with the nuanced, layered, and atmospheric mystery of The Dry, a powerful debut novel revolving around a shocking disappearance, two neighbor families, and shameful secrets from the past that refuse to stay buried. 

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 phoning from Sydney.  30 years ago, in the suffocating heat of summer 1967, the Greens’ next-door neighbour Mandy disappeared. At the time, it was thought she had fled a broken marriage and 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 Joe was allegedly the last person to see her alive, and now he’s under suspicion of murder.

 Isla unwillingly plans to go back to Australia for the first time in a decade to support her father. The return to Sydney will plunge Isla deep into the past, to a quiet street by the sea where two couples live side by side. Isla’s parents, Louisa and Joe, have recently emigrated from England—a move that has left Louisa miserably homesick while Joe embraces this new life. Next door, Steve and Mandy are equally troubled. Mandy doesn’t want a baby, even though Steve—a cop trying to hold it together under the pressures of the job—is desperate to become a father.  

 The more Isla asks about the past, the more she learns: about both young couples and the secrets each marriage bore. Could her father be capable of doing something terrible? How much does her mother know? What will happen to their family if Isla’s worst fears are realized? 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 promising literary star.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: May 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9780063016958

Susan Allott

SUSAN ALLOTT finished her first novel, THE SILENCE, after completing the Faber Academy course. It was widely acclaimed and longlisted for the New Blood Dagger. THE HOUSE ON RYE LANE is her second novel. She lives in south London with her two children and her husband.

Reviews for The Silence

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is very rare for me to read a book within 24 hours. But I have, so let that fact be testament to how much I enjoyed this book.On the surface this mystery is about the disappearance of a young woman, essentially a cold case that a police officer hushed up, brought on by the nature of her husband's shameful job. This book is one of those rare combinations: crime fiction and a poke at Australia's history. I'd love to be able to claim Susan Allott as an Australian writer, but she is British. But she has been able to bring to this novel a very significant understanding of something in Australian history that for decades people tried to gloss over.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 A mystery thirty years in the making. A young woman who has gone missing, a disappearance that is just now being investigated. Isla, returns home as her father requests as he has been drawn into the investigation. So what happened all those years ago?Father daughter relationships and a mystery. Atmospheric but slowly paced. What I liked best about this book is that it confronts head on the taking of the children or the aborigines. A few emotional rendering scenes and a man who confronts his own conscience. A good read that kept my interest.ARC from Edelweiss.

[pgchuis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was extremely good, but very sad. All the characters were flawed, and all seemed doomed by either their upbringing or their circumstances. The plot concerns the discovery of what happened to Mandy in 1967, but along the way Isla also learns more about her parents' marriage and choices.Recommended.

[mciarav · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Story about Australia 1960/late nineties. About stolen generation and domestic violence . Really enjoyed. Good book for a Book Club.

[mooose_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked how the story pulled us into the past and showed how the way life was for that time period, without making it seem like it was a history textbook. I daresay the way women were restricted will be eye-opening to some readers. The jump from past to present wasn't a burden to the flow of the story. Well done.

[tymfos · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ilsa, a recovering alcoholic, returns to Australia from her home in England when she learns her father is a person of interest in the disappearance (and presumed death) of a neighbor they knew 30 years ago. The story alternates between 1997 and 1967. Ilsa's family is highly dysfunctional; her father, Joe, has been a heavy drinker all his life and her mother, Louisa, is not happy in her marriage in either time period. The marriage of Steve and Mandy circa 1967 -- Mandy is the neighbor who disappears -- was quite unhealthy, also. In 1967, Steve was a police officer whose job involved taking children from their supposedly "inadequate" Aboriginal families and delivering them to the "homes" where they were raised to assimilate into "mainstream" Australian culture. (This is similar to how Native American children were taken from their homes to be raised in the "Indian schools" of the past in the U.S., forbidden to speak their tribes' native languages.) Steve came to have serious qualms about his job, which Mandy didn't take seriously.Steve's job took him away from home for days at a time. Louisa left Joe to return to her mother with Ilsa. Joe and Mandy were strongly attracted to each other.I was slow getting into this story, which is a shame because in the end it turned out to be a pretty good read. It's just that none of the characters are really likable. The story is noteworthy in that it deals with the Stolen Generation -- the Aboriginal children who were taken from their families by the Australian government and sent to institutions where they were often subject to abuse. It also deals with the sometimes strained relationship between England and Australia.In accordance with FTC guidelines, a printed advance reader’s edition of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for a review.

[squirrelhead_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

You will experience the severe stifling heat of Australia and a bit of damp, cloudy England in this novel.The characters are very real, the dialogue rings true with marital problems, tensions of a horrible job, unrealistic expectations and secrets. Sounds like a bummer but you will love and hate on the characters and want to know what happened in their lives.The story shifts from 1967 to 1997, back and forth. The main narrator is Isla Green. She is 6 years old in 1967 and loves living in her Australian home. She adores her father. She thought everyone had a house with a backyard stretching to the ocean. Her parents are Joe and Louisa Green, both English but have moved to Australia to start a new life. Trouble is, Louisa doesn't love it. She misses England and hates the heat but I suspect her biggest problem is an alcoholic husband.Next door are Mandy and Steve Mallory. Isla spends quite a bit of time with Mandy and loves her. Steve wants Mandy to get pregnant but both parties have different ideas about their future together. Steve has a horrible job as a policeman who removes aboriginal children from their families, placing them at The Home where they will be fostered and eventully learn a trade.In 1967 women didn't have joint accounts at the bank and have access to their husband's earnings. It was a different world and this makes it harder for Louisa and Mandy to make life altering decisions.Be prepared to read this one straight through. Would I buy more by this author? Oh, absolutely. This is Allott's first novel and I will preorder her next publication as soon as it's an option.The genre is mystery, thriller, suspense and crime drama. Please read the author’s note at the end of the book. She details how the novel came about as well as her educational reading about Britain’s relationship with Australia and the colonial past.Thinking of Steve Mallory's police duties I would suggest watching the film Rabbit Proof Fence. It's worthwhile. It details a dark time when Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families to be trained and educated, placed in horific foster care and made servants. But in Rabbit Proof Fence two sisters escape.Food: There wasn't too much in the way of food mentioned, and I am always mindful of foodie stuff in my reading, but there was a scene where Mandy made a stew for Steve. She heaped a bowl with some savory stew and Steve told her it was delicious. When she went outsdie to escape for a moment she saw him getting another helping. So, I made a batch of chicken and dumplings. So good, hard to not get seconds. The slow cooker recipe is on Squirrel Head Manor.

[hammockqueen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent summer read while we're home with covid pandemic. Good writing...good characters...believable story line....a bit of history. I would highly recommend for a read that holds your interest. A very good mystery...

[karieh_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It’s interesting to me that this book’s title was one of the things that stuck with me the most during & after reading it. “The Silence” is so appropriate for this story of secrets, desperation, love, violence and anger. There is so much that goes unsaid, so many words bubbling underneath the surface of these words. The tension and underlying anxiety is palpable almost from the opening lines.None of the main characters portrayed in “The Silence” are happy (at least not for long). Each of them is questioning his/her life and contemplating their choices, and changing everything. There is so much unspent emotion, so much pent up anger and despair, the reader is constantly waiting for the simmering to come to a boil, for the explosion to finally happen.“The Silence” is a very power and very sad book…leaving the reader emotionally drained.

[txwildflower_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have several favorite authors and read all their current books but I also love first time authors because they are fresh with new ideas. This first time author is no exception. A good story plot, strong characters, and a page turner. The story jumps back in forth in a time span of thirty years but blends together nicely. Hope her next book doesn't take as long to finish!

[dawn1361 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As a fan of historical fiction, I was looking forward to spending time with Susan Allott’s, “The Silence,” a novel billed as a story of two neighboring families and the secrets that dissolved both homes. The story is easily engaging and fulfills as the promised page turner as the novel alternates between past and present as the layers of silence fall away. One secret that is unraveled is Steve’s participation in the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families, a practice that occurred in Australia between 1910 and 1970. The inner turmoil caused by this involvement and the redemption sought by Steve is a different book and his secret/silence is a different level to the common domestic violence, alcoholism, etc. In the end, the silences of each character are revealed and shown to have deep effect through the subsequent years, but this reader was left hungry for the historical element — The Stolen Generation. I received my copy of this book through LibraryThing and recommend it.

[msnick_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I truly enjoyed reading The Silence by Susan Allott. When Isla returns from London to her childhood home in Australia, she finds herself caught up in her parents' dysfunctional marriage as well as a missing persons case in which her father is a person of interest. Isla barely remembers their long-missing neighbor, Mandy, but is compelled to try to learn what happened to her. In dealing with her alcoholic father, she does quite a bit of soul-searching, having recently lost her live-in boyfriend due to her alcohol abuse. As Isla spends time with her estranged mother, she begins to come to terms with the truth about her childhood, realizing that things weren't always how they seemed to a young child. 4 out of 5 stars.

[pdebolt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This well-written novel centers around the disappearance of a woman named Mandy. Her husband, Steve, is a police officer tasked with the unsettling job of removing aboriginal children from their families according to the abominable national law instituted in 1901. The novel alternates between 1967 when the removal process was still in place and 1997. It features Isla, whose family lived next door to Mandy and Steve when she was a child. When her father is a suspect in the disappearance, she remains convinced of his innocence despite his affair with Mandy. The inhumane, cruel policy of the treatment of the First Nations people is an appalling chapter in Australian history, but is well documented.The mystery of Mandy's disappearance is solved after 30 years with a few surprises along the way. None of these characters is without flaws, but they are well developed and understood within the context of their lives and relationships.I am grateful to LibraryThing and the publisher, William Morrow, for the opportunity to review this novel.

[morningwalker · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This story is set in Australia and alternates between 1967 and 1997. The main character is Isla. She was 4 in 1967 and has vague memories of her next door neighbors Steve and Mandy. Mandy babysat her and she adored her. Steve, was a cop whose job it was to collect Aboriginal children from their families and relocate them to institutes or foster care for "better lives," and Isla was a little fearful of him.In 1997 Isla lives in London and receives a phone call from her father saying an investigation is being done because Mandy's father has passed away and left her an inheritance and they can't locate her. The police believe Isa's dad was the last one to see her alive and after 30 years they are looking into her disappearance. Isla is going through a rough spot in her own life but agrees to return to Australia to give her dad support and for his upcoming birthday party. The story alternates between the two years to give the backstory and lead up the 1997 phone call. In between the reader learns of the lives, the secrets and the lies between Isla's parents and Mandy and Steve and how a person could be missing for 30 years and no one knew she was missing. A good mystery with some historical fiction about the forcible removal of Aboriginal children from 1910 until 1970 known as the Stolen Generation.

[dmenon90 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While I could not find anything outright negative to say about The Silence, I must also admit that it did not quite capture me. I tried to tease out the reasons, and I could come up with three main ones.Split timeline: Going back to 1967 and then telling of 1997. Now this format invariably means that one timeline is going to be more interesting than the other, and in this case it was the '67 one. I believe the writer must have extraordinary skill in order to make this work seamlessly, i.e. maintain equal interest and tension between the two timelines, and Susan Allott in this novel is not quite that writer yet. Present tense narrative: This is used in the 1997 timeline, a tone I found irritating, and even jarring when switching from 1967. Present tense is, again, tricky, and works well tonally in many settings. Not in this one. Alcoholic characters: A personal preference, I do not like to read about boozehounds. Their every action ends up being idiotic because they give up control of their brains, and it becomes one bad move after another. All ascribed to the same reason, and then even attempts to get on the wagon seem tedious and boring. Well, those were the three main thrusts of my ultimate displeasure here. But there were also some others, like the POV of the 4-year-old Isla, which were extremely painful. Then the characters were all caught like insects in amber in what seemed to be the worst phase of their lives, and there were several strands of outright bad behavior just every step of the way. One couldn't feel sympathy. Not that I need characters to be moral exemplars, but as I have been whining for the past five paragraphs, Ms. Allott did not achieve enigma and presence for her morally-challenged characters. Now about the theme. Betrayal, desperation, and cruelty. But in the midst of all this is the sub-plot: the little matter of Austalian-Aboriginal children being taken from their homes in state-sponsored abductions up until the 1960s, to be taken and dumped who-knows-where. As heart-wrenching as this is, it wasn't the main narrative steam-builder. It provided a horrible backdrop to the horrible actions of the protagonists, and as such, there was no redemption anywhere. Yes, Isla did fight, first for her alcoholic, murder-suspect old father, and then for the disappeared woman whose life had been erased from public memory (hence the title). But even when the ending comes, you are left wondering as to why you didn't feel more moved.

[techeditor_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Because THE SILENCE is Susan Allott’s debut novel, I am sure she is a new author to you. She was for me, too. But you don’t need to be apprehensive about picking this book for your next read, as I was. It's a safe bet.Maybe the biggest reason is that this is not a simple story. It is multilayered, as the best stories are, but I would say there are mainly three things going on here.First, Isla (pronounced EYE-la), a 35-year-old Australian now living in England, goes back to Australia to look into the police suspicion that her father killed their neighbor, Mandy, 30 years ago. So there’s that mystery, which you’ll learn about little by little, from beginning to end of this book.Second, one of the secrets Isla discovers while she is in Australia is about Mandy’s husband and one of his shameful "duties” as a policeman. This actually is a sad part of Australian history.Third is the issue of alcoholism and its effect on all other issues and families. This is one of Isla's family's secrets.Go ahead and try THE SILENCE. I recommend it and look forward to Allott's next book.Thanks to librarything.com for this great read.

[amkee-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Early reviewers copy received for a review.Novel about a girl dealing with her upsetting past by delving into alcoholism and her father's abuse against her mom as well as the possible murder of her beloved neighbor babysitter.Great character development and a good storyline. The end falls a tad flat.

[sheila1957 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

30 years ago Mandy and her neighbor Joe had an affair. Now her brothers are looking for her because of an inheritance but no one has seen her in 30 years. Joe calls his daughter Isla home from England to help him and Louisa his wife to navigate through the police thinking he murdered Mandy.The title is interesting. It speaks of the silence of neighbors who saw things 30 years ago but did not say anything then. It also speaks of the silence of society as Aboriginal children being removed from their families and placed in institutions for adoption by white families. Both are intertwined in Mandy's story. Plus I learned a lot about the removal of children from the author's notes.Many of the characters are not redeeming people but I liked that Isla pushed to continue the investigation into Mandy's disappearance instead of it being closed. There were a lot of dirty people here. I also liked that Mandy and her mother came to a truce of sorts. This is worth reading. It is not a book that will end with the closing of the cover.

[hubblegal-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Isla Green has received a middle of the night call from her father. He has been questioned by the police about the disappearance of a woman thirty years ago. Apparently, her father was the last person to have seen his neighbor, Mandy, and there has been no trace of her since then. Isla returns to Australia to support her father and secrets of the past begin to unfold.I absolutely loved this book and it held my attention like nothing else has been able to. I kept being pulled deeper and deeper into this unforgettable tale. The book fluctuates between 1967 and 1997 and the transition between these time frames flows along beautifully. This is a debut novel by Ms. Allott and she obviously will be a powerful force in the literary world. I loved each of these characters and found the book to be both very moving and very suspenseful. There is a very sad true history running throughout this book. In Australia between 1905 and 1967, Aboriginal children were taken from their homes by the government, supposedly to give them a better life but in fact were taken to institutions where many of them were mistreated. I first learned of these children when I saw the movie “Rabbit-Proof Fence” many years ago.I most highly recommend this book.This book was won by me on LibraryThing in a contest where an unbiased review was requested.

[kathl33n-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a refreshing read as it is marketed as a mystery, instead of a thriller, which settled you in as a reader to enjoy the pace, as opposed to being duped into thinking you are in for a speedy, suspenseful read. In this age of thrillers everywhere you look, I have missed a good, solid mystery and this one certainly delivers just that. It's a great mystery, taking place in Australia and switching between the 1960s and the 1990s. The time switching keeps the pace lively and relatively short chapters keep the pages turning. This book also exposes a horrific time period of Australia's history but twists so interestingly and presents the true victims of both sides. Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy.