Black Wattle
About
History does not disappear, it follows us...
Saint Augustine said, “The dead are invisible, not absent.” We carry the genes, the culture, and the stories of those who came before us. Every family’s past shapes how we understand time and place.
In 1924, Alice tells a terrible lie to reinvent herself, seeking refuge in the ill-fated Western Australian Group Settlement Scheme. But the past is not so easily erased. As she struggles to forget, fear silences her, and history leaves her behind.
Decades later, Jarrah begins to unravel the mystery of Alice’s silence. Following a trail of buried secrets from Australia to England, she pieces together a hidden past-one that forces her to question everything she thought she knew about family and identity.
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Praise for this book
This is a powerful and moving story about how the past never truly disappears, even when it is hidden or denied. Set across generations, it follows Alice, who tries to escape her history by starting a new life in Australia, only to find that her secrets continue to shape her fate. Decades later, Jarrah’s search for truth slowly uncovers a buried family story that challenges everything she believed about identity and belonging. The writing is thoughtful and emotional, with a strong sense of place and history. It leaves a lasting impression about memory, silence, and the ties that bind families across time.