Tracey Lien’s debut novel is a striking blend of unputdownable murder mystery and complex exploration of racial identity and the intricate bonds between friends and family.

When Ky Tran’s brother, Denny, is brutally murdered on the night of his high school graduation, she is shocked that the police do not seem to care enough to bring the killers to justice. On top of that, the dozen witnesses at the scene of the crime claim not to have seen anything. Determined to learn the truth of her brother’s death, Ky takes it upon herself to interrogate the witnesses. As she listens to the stories of those closest to Denny, she learns that her brother may not have been the perfect, compliant student she thought him to be, and starts to question the nature of the place where she grew up – and the people inhabiting it.

This novel is a social commentary on the discrimination and hate crimes committed towards Asian Australians. Set in 1996 Cabramatta, where Lien grew up as a child, the stories Ky learns lay bare the inherited trauma and violence caused by colonialism and the Vietnam War, which resulted in an exodus of more than 80,000 Vietnamese people who sought refuge in Australia in the decade following that conflict. All That’s Left Unsaid offers insight into the complicated past of this Sydney suburb, which is now home to one of Australia’s largest Vietnamese communities, and examines the generational trauma experienced by Asian Australians and the slow progress to reckon with the devastating effects of the White Australia Policy. Lien effortlessly weaves a compelling thriller with piercing observations of Australia’s ostensible ‘celebration’ of multiculturalism, announcing herself as a bold, new Australian voice that’s much-needed today.

Aurelia Orr is a bookseller at Readings Kids.