All That's Left Unsaid

LoveReading Says

Powerful writing ensures emotions are kept leaning out over a cliff edge in this shockingly intimate story that is simply impossible to put down. Returning home after her younger brother Denny is murdered and all witnesses insist they saw nothing, Ky determines to discover the truth. Debut author Tracey Lien sets the scene during 1996 in a Sydney suburb full of refugee families. The sense of place hit me, low down in my gut, I could feel the emotions of those living there, as well as see in vibrant colour. There are regular glimpses into Ky and Denny’s childhood which grounds the novel and allows access to the family as they learned to cope with a new country after leaving Vietnam. I could feel the past affecting the future with every step I took. It also gives Denny a voice, ensures he is known. The pain felt by Ky and her parents after Denny’s murder transferred into my heart and soul, into my bones. As Ky moved through her investigation, the people she met stepped fully formed off of the page, I had a real sense of each person, and what influenced their every decision, even though at the start of the book they were just a name, a witness, essentially a bystander. The ending sent a wave of goosebumps travelling through me, it felt intensely personal, and held me in its arms as I read. All That’s Left Unsaid is provocative, moving, and actually rather beautiful even as it tears down defences and leaves you feeling emotionally raw. Deservedly sitting as a LoveReading Star Book, Liz Pick and Debut of the Month I want to shout about All That’s Left Unsaid, I want to shake it in front of peoples faces and thrust it into their hands, here, read this book!

Liz Robinson

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