A compelling murder mystery that also has profound things to say about the bonds of community and collective silence, Lien's debut is an unforgettable read.
They claim they saw nothing. She knows they're lying.
1996 - Cabramatta, Sydney.
'Just let him go.'
Those are 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 Denny - is brutally murdered inside a busy restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta, a refugee enclave facing violent crime, and an indifferent police force.
Returning home for the funeral, Ky learns that the police are stumped by her brother's case. Even though several people were present at Denny's murder, each bystander claims to have seen nothing, and they are all staying silent.
Determined to uncover the truth, Ky tracks down and questions the witnesses herself. But what she learns goes beyond what happened that fateful night. The silence has always been there, threaded through the generations, and Ky begins to expose the complex traumas weighing on those present the night Denny died. As she peels back the layers of the place that shaped her, she must confront more than the reasons her brother is dead. And once those truths have finally been spoken, how can any of them move on?
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780008511890
Number of pages: 352
Weight: 560 g
Dimensions: 240 x 159 x 36 mm
Praise for All That’s Left Unsaid ‘The best book I’ve read this year. Achingly tender and savagely honest, it is both a riveting mystery and a complex portrayal of displacement, trauma and the crippling cost of assimilation. I can’t remember a novel that made me feel so seen’ Kia Abdullah, Next of Kin ' All That’s Left Unsaid is honest, aching, and filled with beauty. It will transport you' Julia Phillips, internationally bestselling author of Disappearing Earth ‘A stunning debut, an unputdownable mystery combined with a profoundly moving family drama about the ways we hurt and hide from those we love most – and how we mend and strengthen those lifelong bonds. It blew me away’ Angie Kim, Miracle Creek ‘An extraordinary work of Australian literature about who we are as a nation. This book deserves to be a classic in our literary canon. Profoundly moving, riveting, tender and heartbreaking. What a read. Tracey Lien is a major new voice in our literary landscape and I can’t wait to read what she writes next. Bravo’ Nikki Gemmell ‘Memorable and powerful . . . Lien’s debut communicates the specific operation of generational trauma with nuance and insight . . . A fictional tragedy evoked with such clarity and specificity that it will linger in your memory as if it really happened’ Kirkus Reviews ‘Quite simply one of the best books I’ve ever read’ Good Reading ‘A powerful read that explores community and racial discrimination’ Good Housekeeping ‘An eye-opening, honest portrayal’ Adele Parks, Platinum magazine
A unique perspective on a murder. The protagonist, a Vietnamese Australian discovers that the brutal unprovoked murder of her brother has largely gone uninvestigated. The book charts her search for an explanation... More
All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien is a marvellous debut novel that totally consumed me.
The story is set in 1996 in the Vietnamese community in Australia. It is very powerful and totally heart-breaking.
Much of...
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⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
All That's Left Unsaid
By Tracey Lein
Ky (pronounced kee, not kai) is a young Vietnamese-Australian woman who has returned home to the notorious Cabramatta suburb of Sydney because her brother has been...
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