The Secret Son

Fiction & Literature, Historical
Cover of the book The Secret Son by Jenny Ackland, Allen & Unwin
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jenny Ackland ISBN: 9781925268089
Publisher: Allen & Unwin Publication: August 26, 2015
Imprint: Allen & Unwin Language: English
Author: Jenny Ackland
ISBN: 9781925268089
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Publication: August 26, 2015
Imprint: Allen & Unwin
Language: English

I know that two men are coming up the mountain, at this moment, including the boy from far away. I wonder what my grandson's face will look like.This is a boy in the skin of a man.I know the boy is innocent, that it's his family soul which is guilty.

An old woman sits waiting in a village that clings to a Turkish mountainside, where the women weave rugs, make tea and keep blood secrets that span generations. Berna can see what others cannot, so her secrets are deeper and darker than most. It is time for her to tell her story, even though the man for whom her words are meant won't hear them. It is time for the truth to be told.

Nearly a hundred years before, her father James had come to the village on the back of a donkey, gravely ill, rescued from the abandoned trenches of Gallipoli by a Turkish boy whose life he had earlier spared. James made his life there, never returning to Australia and never realising that his own father was indeed the near-mythical bushranger that the gossips had hinted at when he'd been a boy growing up in Beechworth.

Now, as Berna waits, a young man from Melbourne approaches to visit his parents' village, against the vehement opposition of his cursed, tight-lipped grandfather. What is the astonishing story behind the dark deeds that connect the two men, unknown to each other and living almost a century apart?

The Secret Son is a remarkable debut, a dazzlingly original, audacious and exhilarating novel. At once joyous and haunting, it is a moving meditation on love, honour and belonging, as well as a story about the strength of women and what it means to be a good man.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

I know that two men are coming up the mountain, at this moment, including the boy from far away. I wonder what my grandson's face will look like.This is a boy in the skin of a man.I know the boy is innocent, that it's his family soul which is guilty.

An old woman sits waiting in a village that clings to a Turkish mountainside, where the women weave rugs, make tea and keep blood secrets that span generations. Berna can see what others cannot, so her secrets are deeper and darker than most. It is time for her to tell her story, even though the man for whom her words are meant won't hear them. It is time for the truth to be told.

Nearly a hundred years before, her father James had come to the village on the back of a donkey, gravely ill, rescued from the abandoned trenches of Gallipoli by a Turkish boy whose life he had earlier spared. James made his life there, never returning to Australia and never realising that his own father was indeed the near-mythical bushranger that the gossips had hinted at when he'd been a boy growing up in Beechworth.

Now, as Berna waits, a young man from Melbourne approaches to visit his parents' village, against the vehement opposition of his cursed, tight-lipped grandfather. What is the astonishing story behind the dark deeds that connect the two men, unknown to each other and living almost a century apart?

The Secret Son is a remarkable debut, a dazzlingly original, audacious and exhilarating novel. At once joyous and haunting, it is a moving meditation on love, honour and belonging, as well as a story about the strength of women and what it means to be a good man.

More books from Allen & Unwin

Cover of the book How Writing Works by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book Easy Luxury by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book Bearing Witness by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book Victoria's Heritage by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book Sounds from Silence by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book Crown Street Women's Hospital by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book Blood of Avalon by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book Summer of the Red Wolf by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book The Word Ghost by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book Puddle Hunters by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book An American in Oz by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book The Silence by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book Quilting by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book Kick with my Left Foot by Jenny Ackland
Cover of the book Kitchen Mojo by Jenny Ackland
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy