In September 2022 we were delighted to introduce our Book Post subscribers to a new Australian author who has blown us away with her stunning debut.

Tracey Lien was raised in South Western Sydney and her novel, All That’s Left Unsaid, is set in Sydney’s Cabramatta in 1996 during the height of the heroin epidemic.

Lien captures the ’90s nostalgia coupled with the political and social tensions at the time: the rise of Pauline Hanson; the assassination of John Newman, the member for Cabramatta; and the influx of cheap heroin into Australia that resulted in the worst heroin epidemic in Australia’s history. This is an important time that deserves revisiting with a modern eye.

All That’s Left Unsaid is the story of Ky and her family as they navigate a terrible family tragedy and the grief that ensues. When Ky discovers her brother, Denny, has been brutally beaten to death at his high school graduation dinner, she is wracked with guilt. Not only is she the one who convinced her strict Vietnamese parents to let Denny go, but she had also grown distant from her brother since she moved to Melbourne.

When she returns to Sydney, she realises the police have nothing on the case. Her parents refused an autopsy, and the people that were there all claim to have seen nothing. Ky uses her skills as a journalist and her ‘in’ with the local community to try to uncover exactly what happened in her brother’s final hours.

Everything in this book feels real and the characters are beautifully developed. At its core, this is a moving, raw and honest account of a family trying to find their way through tragedy but there’s also a bigger story about a country trying to find its identity.

We hope you will love All That’s Left Unsaid as much as we did.

Read the review in Good Reading Magazine here.

Watch Tracey Lien reading from All That’s Left Unsaid here.

Our Previous Book Post Pick

In August our Book Post subscribers received The Last White Man by Mohsim Hamid. Here’s a bit of what they thought.

‘Bubbling with excitement, I quickly opened the caged book from its protective coating and it was so neatly packaged bearing a Happy Reading label, all tied neatly – the mystery of a good read! The Last White Man was different from the novels I usually read, however, that is not a problem as it has given me a wider scope of style and place for future readings. I look forward to the next book to enjoy.’ Kerry P

‘Finished today. It is probably not a book I would have picked to read but I am glad I have read it. Interesting premise. The issues were dealt with in a gentle way but still inspired further thought and consideration … I will definitely be passing this book onto friends and family members.’ Jo R