Out of the Silence A Story of Love, Betrayal, Politics and Murder

Winner of the Best First Australian Crime Novel, Ned Kelly Crime Awards 2006I hold Jacky close, fix my eyes on the door and walk as fast as I can.'Oh, please, don't run away. Think of your child, if you cannot think of yourself.''What we are suggesting is nothing,' the man mutters darkly, as I pass through the door and into the brightly lit hall. 'Nothing. Far worse can happen.'Far worse.I have a baby, two shillings, no reputation and nowhere to go, but even so I cannot imagine what far worse might be.Out of the Silence is a stunning debut novel about three women from very different worlds: Maggie Heffernan, a spirited working-class country girl; Elizabeth Hamilton, whose own disappointment in love has served only to strengthen her humanity; and the remarkable Vida Goldstein, the suffragist who was to become the first woman to stand for Parliament.When Maggie's life descends into darkness after a terrible betrayal, the three women's lives collide. Around this tragedy Wendy James has constructed a masterfully drawn and gripping fiction. Based on a true story, it unfolds at the dawn of the twentieth century against the compelling backdrop of the women's suffrage movement and a world on the brink of enormous change.The novel powerfully evokes the plight of women in the early 1900s – not least their limited options, whatever their class and education. However, at its heart this is a story of love – of love gone wrong; of its compromises and disappointments; but ultimately of its extraordinary transformative power."This is a work of intelligence and talent informed by a deeply humane sensitivity." —Sydney Morning Herald