Susan Allott's "The Silence" is about two couples living in Sydney, Australia, in 1967. Steve Mallory adores his wife, Mandy, and would like to start a family; Mandy's feelings for her husband have cooled, and she has no interest in becoming a mother. The Mallorys are neighbors of Louisa Green, who is fed up with her alcoholic spouse, Joe. How long will Louisa put up with Joe's mood swings, blackouts, and physical assaults? The Greens's daughter, Isla, is well-aware of her parents' misery, but she favors her dad—to whom she is deeply attached—over her mum.

Thirty years pass, and Isla is an alcoholic like Joe. Unlike him, she is trying to stop drinking. Her emotional pain propels her to declare that "the hardest thing about sobriety is remembering things I'd rather forget." During a time of crisis, Isla, who lives and works in London, reluctantly returns to Australia to visit her feuding parents. While there, she tries to make peace with her past and solve a mystery that hits close to home.

In addition, Allott recounts a heartbreaking and shameful chapter in Australian history involving the "Stolen Generations." Between 1910 and 1970, the country's colonial government ordered police officers to forcibly remove indigenous youngsters from their parents. The children ended up in institutions or foster care; were trained to do menial jobs; and, in some cases, endured abuse at the hands of their guardians. No one knows how many indigenous children were taken from their parents.

Although the central characters in "The Silence" are unlikeable, we grow to pity these desolate people who cannot face reality and are reluctant or unable to make much-needed changes that might bring them peace. This is an intense, tragic, and atmospheric work of fiction about flawed, selfish, and misguided men and women who compulsively inflict harm on themselves and others. ( )

This story set in Australia spans 30 years with events that happened in 1967 and a return to the place in 1997. Isla Green returns to Australia for her father and also due to her life falling apart. Isla struggles with alcoholism, just like her father. Isla’s mother, Louise, works to escape from the hum drum life of a housewife. A neighbor, Mandy, babysits Mandy while Louise works. In 1967, a pregnant Louise returns to England with Isla. Joe Green, Isla’s father begins an affair with Mandy. Mandy and her husband Steve quarrel over babies and Steve’s police job of taking aborigine children from unsuitable homes. The story follows the demise of spousal relationships and the bond between parent and child. The Australian setting bakes in their summer heat as emotions flare and the police finally start to question Mandy’s disappearance. ( )

I loved this atmospheric mystery, set mainly in Sydney in the 60s, following two couples with their own problems. Louisa is desperate to go back to England, but volatile Joe has other ideas.

Steve next door hates his job for the police, picking up Aboriginal children and taking them to children's homes, and his wife Mandy is bored and lonely, and falling out of love with Steve.

When Louisa runs back to England, Joe and Mandy start a brief but passionate affair.

Mandy then disappears and isn't seen for 30 years.

Joe and Louisa's daughter Isla, lives in London and retunrs to Sydney in the 90s when the police question her dad Joe about the possible murder of Mandy.

Eventually we find out that Steve found out about the affair, and left Mandy, taking with him an Aboroginal baby he was supposed to take to a home. Mandy accidentally lets slip to Joe, and Joe tells the police who turn up on Steve's doorstep.

The baby dies, and when Mandy shows up to reconcile, Steve beats her to death, hiding her body and the baby's in the sea.

Isla goes back to London, determined not to end up like her drunken bitter dad. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )