Secrets from the Dust

by George Hamilton

Set in Australia between the 1960s and early 1970s, this historical saga follows Margaret, an Aboriginal girl who is snatched from her family and brought up by white foster parents in the outback, under the government sponsored assimilation policies. She stubbornly tries to maintain her culture until she can escape or her real parents find her, but then she discovers that she is growing to like many of the customs and material possessions of her captors, producing a crisis of cultural identity. By the time she grows into a beautiful young woman and moves to Sydney to study nursing, she has already suffered the disappointments of unrequited love and the forbidden desire for her foster father. She tries to hide behind the identity of a Southern European, but the highly charged political environment of Sydney and her love for a political activist forces her to confront her true identity.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Australia, Historical

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 3, 2010

About the author

George Hamilton likes to know what’s going on around the world, to delve into the customs and practices of different cultures, and this is often a feature of his novels. His tales are based on people's intense personal or family dramas, with major social or political events strongly impacting their story. In addition to World Literature, he also writes multi-genre novels which include: Historical, Suspense/Thriller, and Contemporary. He currently lives in London, England.

Reviews

[Aditi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who doesn't know about that period of history in Australia when the government removed the Aboriginal children from their parents forcefully assimilated to work in the homes of white people as servants. We call it as Stolen Generation.
And I found a real nice poem about a child screaming for her real parents and for her identity.

They had taken away my family!
The child within me cried,
The stolen life, the agony
Of many a year gone by.

The cover up; the pretence.
The falsehood: All those lies.
Didn't they know I'd find out the truth one day,
And now I just ask WHY?

All their words and all their kindness
Can never fill the pain.
Can I ever trust the people,
That I believed in, once again?

The stole me from a lifetime,
My heritage. My home.
My family. My identity.
My spirit all alone.

But to let them win, would be a sin.
To give up would be a crime.
I must search on. I must fight on.
To find what is rightfully mine.

To find my heritage; my family.
My home and identity.
To find the person who was lost to me.
Me… the Aborigine!
---Pauline McLeod, an Aboriginal

George Hamilton, an English writer charmed as well as intrigued our minds and soul with his debut story, Secrets From The Dust that features that Stolen Generation period in Australia.

Synopsis:
Snatched from her family during the 1960s, Margaret, a headstrong Aboriginal girl, is fostered by the McDonalds, in the Australian outback, under the government sponsored assimilation policies. She stubbornly fights to maintain her culture until she can escape or her real parents find her. But soon she discovers that she is growing to like many of the customs and material possessions of her captors, throwing her into an identity crisis, which rips another fault line through her world.

By the time she grows into a beautiful young woman, she has already suffered the disappointments of unrequited love and a forbidden desire. Encouraged to hide behind the identity of a Southern European, the highly charged political environment of the time, and her love for a political activist, forces her to confront her true identity.

This is the story of a teenage Aboriginal girl, named, Margaret, who was forcefully removed from her 'mob' into an Aboriginal girls care home, where the dreadful situations made her lost and heart-broken. Eventually she is adopted into the McDonalds household and soon she adapts the role of a farmer. But she is constantly facing an identity and cultural crisis/ clash and also every passing day, her heart swells up with longing for her real parents.

This is a work of fiction, yet the author told the story from an authentic Aboriginal child's perspective with raw starkness that provokes our mind to think about the curse of a monopolizing society in our history. The author represented her story from the girl's narration, which is deep, sad and interesting and I immediately connected with the protagonist.

The author depicted his characters apart from the protagonist with brilliance, some will fill our mind with spite and hate and some will simply make us cry out with pain. Moreover the author captured all the symptoms faced by an Aboriginal child correctly and justifies the whole situation.

The author even took us back in that era when monopoly and domination ruled over every thing and once gain my heart filled up with shame because of such an weakness in our society. Moreover, I liked the way the author unfolded his whole story like in a rhythm.

The story made me cry and feel the emotional ups and downs of such a child's life and the author addressed all those negative issues faced by that teenager with enough compassion and delicately, thus touching us deeply in our soul and mind.

Verdict: Do read this story where the author made it a heart-touching and deeply moving tale out of an unforgettable era in our history.

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, George Hamilton, for giving me an opportunity to read and review his debut novel.

[Rachelle Ayala · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me profoundly sad, dealing with an atrocious period in Australian history where native children were stolen from their parents to be forcibly assimilated. The first and last time we see the high spirited Snake-woman-child in her natural self ended with her kidnapping in the first scene.

They named her Margaret, erased her past and tried to transplant her into a world that did not accept her. They stripped her identity, maligned her parents, and replaced her affections to their ways. They told her she was not Koori (or Aborigine), but Southern European.

You'll love Margaret, and root for her, and cheer her on, hoping and praying she'd be rescued, or reunited with her parents, or later on, that she'd succeed in school, or even have a husband and a family to love. You'll fear for her safety, wary always that she be molested by the men around her, then wish she could find a place, any place to fit in. But alas, the author never allows you to relax, and sadly, the story lurches on through cycles of disappointment and rejection to its mysterious ending.

As strong-willed as Margaret was, there came a day when she no longer knew who she was. How many times could she metamorphosize? How many skins could she shed? The author's descriptions of Margaret's surroundings, the natural beauty and harshness of the Australian landscape, evokes your deepest emotions, using sight, sounds, smell, taste and intuition. Haunting and mesmerizing, this is a story you won't forget.

If you read no other book this year, make sure to read Secrets From the Dust. It will change you and make you conscious against suppressing the spirit of life and to be in touch with your true self.

"Will they accept me if I just let them out and be me, whatever that is, because I’m not sure I even know anymore?” -Margaret/Ningali

[Lolliepop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, I have to be honest. I have never read something like this before as far as I am concern and guess what, I like this book. Really! But, I dont think I want to read any other book regarding the same matter anymore. What the author have told me in this book is enough for me to imagine it to the real life. On how miserable living at the Training Home, how to adjust oneself to live with a new society and how different they were from you really disturb you however you try not to feel different. There were some parts of this book that i tried my hardest to get on with because of the hatred it caused to me but still I did feel of killing somebody-the characters, of course.

This book is the happy, sad, love, hate, rich, poor being mixed together and the taste? Well,i told you before, it is good! This book makes me realise that how much you try to be someone else, you are still who you are. You can change your way of talking or your way of walking or even your way of life, yet you are still you. That is a fact. Believe me!

Good job, Mr. Hamilton for this book and good luck for the upcoming books, if any!!

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the late 1880's to the mid 1960's, Australian authorities (government, church and welfare) removed Aboriginal children from their parents care forcing them into homes to be assimilated into white culture (usually as servants). This abhorrent policy has resulted in what is called "The Stolen Generation".
'Margaret', is stolen from her Mob as a young child and is placed in Radley, a care home for aboriginal girls where they are forced to deny their family, culture and language while being taught the basic tenants of servitude. The home is cruel, Maragaret is half starved and absued but the law refuses to return her to her family.Eventually she is 'adopted' by the McDonalds family and joins them on their farm.
Margaret is luckier than many of the stolen generation in that her family believes she should be treated with charity, educated and cared for to fit in within white society. Margaret's attepmts to hold onto her own culture, and the hope her parents will come for her, wither under the natural desire of a child to fit in with her new family and community.
Hamilton does an excellent job of portraying Margaret's gradual alienation from her own culture. He captures the subtle shifts in her thinking and her longing to belong. Margaret is an appealing and sympathetic character, she shows determination and spirit despite difficult circumstances.
Margarets situation is subtly contrasted by her 'sister', the other white children at the school and the 'adopted' aboriginal children she meets. Margarets adoptive mother and to a lesser extent her adoptive father and sister are well developed as are the important minor characters.
My heart breaks knowing that while Margaret is fictionalised, her circumstances are a representation of the racism and bigotry aboriginals experienced under the guise of 'help'. It is even harder to know that most were treated far worse, as her friends situations illustrate. The impact of the Stolen Generation is huge with the repercussions still echoing through Australian society.
Secrets From the Dust is well written, the descriptions of both place and emotion are lyrical and honest. Hamilton does well to capture details and attitudes of the time with the story spanning a period of about 10+ years during the 1950's - 1960's. He manages to avoid a sensational or preachy tone that is common in such a politically 'hot' story. Most impressively, given the author's gender (male) and heritage (he resides in England) is his ability to explore the issues from an aboriginal teenaged girl perspective with an authentic voice.
Harrowing, beautiful and thought provoking, Secrets From the Dust is is an impressive novel from George Hamilton. With it's shocking conclusion it deserves an audience, particularly from Australian's who want to understand the impact Australia's social policies have had on the indigeneous population.

[G. Penn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Secrets from the Dust more than lived up to my expectations. After reading Shelleyrae's review I was intrigued. I know little about Australia and found the subject of the Aboriginal children fascinating. The plight of many of the children was similar to the plight of the children of the slaves in the United States. Torn from their families, they were considered inferior and forced into servitude. Forced to learn to assimilate into the white society, they were never accepted by the white society. I thought the writing improved noticeably as the story grew and it was impossible to put it down. Most characters were well developed, particularly Margaret, her adopted Mother, her natural Mother, and her Father. Less well developed was her adopted sister and some of the characters Margaret interacted with. As Shelleyrae stated, the end is shocking, and I am certainly not going to provide a spoiler. A book well worth reading. Although Hamilton is evidently not Australian himself, the story has encouraged me to search for other stories of Australia and particularly other stories by Australian authors.

[Karyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

this one hits on the heart of the dreaming and the repercussions of stealing the indigenous from their "country" .. sadly just one story of way too many

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Kindle edition of Secrets from the Dust. It is a powerful story with the plot set in Australia between the 1940's and 1960's. The story revolves around Margaret, an Aboriginal girl. At a very young age, Margaret was ‘taken’ (forcibly kidnapped) from her family as part of a government program to separate any mixed race children. Her mother had been raped by a white man. Margaret is first placed in a government school, then with a foster family far away from where she had been taken from her family. She is placed with a family consisting of Seth, a native Australian, his English wife, Anne, and their daughter, Liz, who is one year older than Margaret. Seth grows pineapples and has a fierce love for the land. Anne longs for the England and the life she left behind. However, she wants to help Margaret and teaches her the traditions, customs and manners of white society which included immersing herself in the Christian religion.

Even in her new setting, Margaret faces discrimination and challenges because of being an Aboriginal. At the school, the head Catholic sister refuses to give Margaret any homework or allow her to ask any questions in the classroom. The only way Margaret even got into the school was because Anne lied and told the school that Margaret was Southern European. Margaret is a very strong-willed girl who does what she needs to do to survive the discrimination. She manages to graduate from the school but is crushed when a boy she hopes to marry chooses a white girl instead.

She goes on to Sydney to study nursing at the University of Sydney but finds herself caught between her two worlds ---the white society she has immersed herself in and those who want her to get involved with the Aboriginal movement for more rights. It comes to the point where she feels she doesn't know who she is anymore and questions how many more times she can change herself before she is finally accepted as she is.

This is a very powerful story portraying the clash between different peoples in the country of Australia. It reminds one so much of the history of the African-Americans in the United States after the Civil War ended. Although they were formally free, their rights were severely curtailed and so it was with the Aboriginal people of Australia. At one point in the book, there is a protest going on in Sydney and it states it was inspired by the freedom march of Martin Luther King in the US.

The author uses poetic imagery in many places describing Margaret's feelings and emotions which added a distinctive feature to the novel. This is the second novel I have read by George Hamilton and I highly recommend both him and this book.

My only disappointment with the book was the ending which seemed too abrupt. That is why I gave it 4 stars.

[Bookish Indulgenges with b00k r3vi3ws · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a friend referred this novel to me, I promptly added it to my TBR list and the author was kind enough to send me a free copy for review purpose. Since this particular friend of mine doesn’t recommend books lightly, I picked up this novel with the expectation of a couple of hours of enjoyable read at the least. But I got much more than just a couple of hours of well invested time. This novel left me speechless… and let me tell you, that doesn’t happen very often.

The story revolves around Margaret, an Aboriginal girl with the plot being set in the 1960’s. At a very young age, Margaret was ‘taken’ from her home and family and first placed in a government school, then with a foster family. With her own identity, family and culture stripped away from her, Margaret is taught to be like a Southern European. But she isn’t an ordinary girl who can be subdued and dominated easily. She is stubborn and strong-willed. Over the years she struggles with her true identity and confusion, yet she refuses to give in to the society… This is essentially Margaret’s story.

I LOVED Margaret. I smiled and cried with her, I cheered her on, shared her dreams, sympathized with her and continuously wished her success. It was helluva ride to take, but living through all the ups and downs of Margaret’s life was totally worth it. She has had a hard life yet her spirit was never broken, not even at the lowest point of her life. Anne, Sean and Liz have quite a presence in the novel and their lives are so deeply connected.

The plot is so amazingly deep yet handled in an expert manner. Through Margaret, and the people around her, the author has covered a wide array of social issues of the time – from racial tension to child labour to rape and violence. Now that I think of it, things haven’t changed as much, has it? Author’s amazing style of writing and his language only compliments the plot. I do not know much about Australian landscape and culture, yet the author, through his writing, managed to paint a vivid picture of the Australia of 1960s in my mind.

An amazing heart touching and thought provoking piece of work!

[Murphy's Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

from Murphy's Library — http;//www.murphyslibrary.com/

This story is set in Australia, but could be any country that has a large amount of Aboriginal people. For decades the Australian government has forced those children into white culture, in what they called a try out for rehabilitation, a way to make children grow out the Aboriginals. The Stolen Generation is what it was called. But they’ve forgotten one thing: nobody can change the blood that runs in our veins.

Secrets from the Dust is centered in a child forced away from her birth parents and placed with white ones. She is obviously different and this is what makes this book so wonderful to read.

I live in Brazil and we have lots of different cultures going on here, so it is very touching to read about Margaret, even though she was a lucky one. She was treated right when several children from this time were just servants, insignificants individuals that weren’t cared for.

The characteres in this story all form a connection with the reader. You don’t just read this book, you live it, and that is due to the amazing writing of George Hamilton. In a world so torn by racism and discrimination, this is an eye opener book that should be read by lots of people as a way to put some sense on them. Maybe with fictional characters suffering people can understand what real people suffer every day with violence against races. It’s sad that even a book from the old times is still so atual.

I really liked as the narrative goes, but there are some paragraphs that could’ve been constructed differently to catch more attention, because I find them to long or too descriptive. Overall, this is a great book.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

SECRETS FROM THE DUST, by George Hamilton, took me by surprise. It’s the story of a young Aboriginal girl, known to her tribe as Snake-woman-girl, who’s brutally snatched from her family and taken to a government-sponsored school for domestic training. With her new name, Margaret, and her new training as a servant, she’s fostered by Anne McDonald, wife to a pineapple farmer in the outback.

Even though life is relatively easy — Margaret has her own room and is allowed to attend school — she does not forget her parents. As a young child, she yearns for them and leaves tracks in the dust so they’ll find her. But as the years pass, despite her constant and unrelenting treatment as a second-class citizen, she comes to accept, and even like, the trappings of the dominant culture, spurning an deep identity crisis.

But this book is not a one-sided telling of history from the point of view of the oppressed. George Hamilton imbues life and dimension to all characters in the book, from Anne McDonald, Margaret’s British foster mother, to her husband, Sean, whose 300 acres of pineapples is on the verge of failing, to the other families in Malee, their small farming community. We are invited into all world views, to witness hopes, dreams, disappointments, and failures.

George Hamilton meticulously researched SECRETS FROM THE DUST and the setting of the 1950s and 60s just pops off the page. The core truth of this book, government-sanctioned obliteration of an aboriginal culture, can be applied to so many countries, mine included. This thought-provoking, lyrical novel deserves an audience. Read it and urge your friends to also.

[Larelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fabulous read. Wonderfully written and well researched. I found the character of Maraget an absorbing one.

Being an Australian of Aboriginal anscestry (my great grandmother was a full blood aborigine whom married my English-born great grandfather), I found it such a thought provoking read. I'm sure my grandmother (being half-caste and always trying to hide her Aboriginality to "fit in" in the "white world") must have gone through many of the things Margaret did. It must be so hard to be mixed race and feel you don't fit in to either world.

It was lovely to read a story about 60's/70's Australia as well and to relive the culture of the time. There has been a lot of reform over the past 40 years with Aboriginal rights and land ownership - even, finally, a formal apology from the Australian government (LONG overdue). But I still can't help but think there is a long way to go.

If you love reading about Australian history, this is a must read.

[Luisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was born in Australia and I lived there until I was nine, when my family moved to Italy. I have always been interested in Aboriginal history, being an extremely important part of Australia's history.
This is the first fictional book I've ever read about Aborigines and I thought it was really interesting from that point of view, reading history through a fictional novel.
A part from that, I found the book too long and not very clear with times and ages: I was never sure how old Margaret was at any point of the story and how much time had gone by between the various events.
I'm still grateful to Amazon for allowing me to have it for free as I had it in my wish list and was meaning to read it at some point.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book in nearly a day. It's a quick read as the main character, Margaret, easily draws you in. As a foreigner currently living in Australia, I loved how the author painted the vastly different experiences of Aboriginal history between rural and urban Australian life in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Though the focal point of the book, is Margaret's experiences of colonisation and internal search to understand who she is and where she belongs, when no one is willing to accept her as she is. Interestingly, there was a less developed, but underlying theme of European immigrants struggle to adapt and/or belong in their experiences of immigrating to Australia. The book would make great discussion for a bookclub.

[Nancy Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is what I imagine a sequel to Rabbit Proof Fence would be like - what happened after reform school - with a little dose of The Help (racial tension in the 1960s) & some Good Earth (farming life & the struggle against mother nature) thrown in.

There are so many things that happen in this story that make me go 'huh?' The characters do things or say things that seem incongruous or implausible. & the author uses some of the most obscure similes throughout.

Still, the story shows 1960s Australian life from a variety of viewpoints. For that reason alone, I would recommend giving it a go.

[Myron Lezak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Australia in the 1960's and its laws regarding the Aborigine set this remarkable novel as a perfect sequel to Rabbit Proof Fence. This is a very poignant portrayal of lost identity and an attempt to destroy a culture. The hubris of white control, whether it be in Australia or in America in relation to Native Americans is worth telling and re-telling so it is kept on the front burner of our lessons in our treatment of fellow human beings.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard book to rate. It could have used a better editor, a lot of misspelled and misused words. The story seemed stuck in some places, very quick in others. It had a bit of a disjointed, choppy ending. All that aside Maragaret's story is compelling, it doesn't ever seem to go where you think, and can lead to a great discussion of moral, traditional, and racial values.

[Lynne (Tigger's Mum) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't read the synopsis and just started reading after a Goodreads recommendation. I'm so glad I did. The story was fascinating, the characters and their environment were so well described you could see them. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating story, beautifully written

[Leeann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not knowing anything about Australia's "Stolen Generation" I found this book quite an eye-opener.

[Mario Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overview: I am held captive and intrigued by the very first coherent thoughts to emanate off the first page. If someone had suggested this book to me as a quaint novel about an Aboriginal girl taken from her family, raised as an orphan into a foreign and oppressive culture with a plot set just prior to and through the Vietnam War, in Australia, I would have turned it down as “not for me.” A loss I would’ve had to live with. Because few stories of late have managed to simultaneously take a hold of my intellect, my sentiments, and my conscience all at the same time. George Hamilton doesn’t relate a story to a casual observer, he instigates a participant; I am Snake-woman-child as she meets the yoke of the white man’s world.
The story is sprinkled with shards of wisdom. The hook that kept me reading. I sympathized with the young female protagonist, yes, but witnessing her perseverance somehow elevated my own spirit and character. Altogether helping me to empathize with struggles and fears that would otherwise have been foreign to me—as a man; and as a minority.
Secrets From the Dust is a story of tragedy, culminating lies, blossoming love, and defeat on the crisp of ultimate triumph. We witness the birth and death of dreams.
Summary: ” [L]ittle mulatto bitch!” is an unexpected protagonist in a tale built beneath the all too familiar backdrop of imperialism—conquer, dominate, assimilate. Except, here, there are no romantic overtones to the eradication, by European settlers, of the lives and beliefs of the Aboriginal people. There is nothing grandiose or noble about human abduction or kidnapping for profit; nor is there beauty to be found in societal intolerance. And yet, there is, heroism in the last place one would expect to find it: a child’s resilience and innocence.
The Radley Domestic Training Home for girls is the intake center for Aboriginal children soon to be cheap labor. I walked through these cold doors of human indifference unprepared for what awaited me in the form of “European values and work habits,” dished out like slop from a prison mess hall. Experiencing this through the eyes of a young girl was much like awakening from a familiar, pleasant dream into a nightmare.
Blinding hope appears throughout, only to then slip through Margaret’s fingers time and again. Her family is so close, and yet, so far. I grieved for her family; I hoped for her; but above all I was enraged by the legitimacy of it all: Racism doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the errant social conditioning effectuated beneath the guise of Christian morals.
Child rape is alluded to. My blood boils, my emotions tip from one extreme to another, as shame overcomes me for having been raised to believe in the ostentatious superiority of the European ethos of capitalism, Christianity, and the cold chisel of progress.
It’s not long before the panorama of Margaret’s existence at the Radley home is upset. The hope of rescue begins to slip, as her adventure now takes flight. She grows from childhood into adolescence, with all the typical dilemmas of change and human development into what one hopes will be a stable identity. Boys. Betrayal. Having a different color of skin. Being on the losing side of the xenophobic, racist paradigm. It’s all here.
Old torments subside, old memories fall into obscurity, and all while solidarity in her life is on the rise. Margaret struggles with her identity, but rather than lament the inevitable she maintains her spirit, allowing hope to assume an unfamiliar role in friendship.
And while her life goes on so does the search for her whereabouts. Her family’s quest for a lost child hints for some reason of “The Grapes of Wraith”—human perseverance on the brink of defeat; or perhaps because I see the ruddy, wasted faces of capitalism on the countenance of every beggar that Margaret confronts.
Just when I’m about to label the story predictable, Hamilton expertly redirects the tale from the homestead on Malee to the hustle and bustle of Sydney. And perhaps this is where the birth and death of dreams really takes place.
For the first time I felt disappointed by Margaret’s obstinate behavior. Would she embrace her new life or her past life? A perspective shift that solidified her as a character full of faults and insecurities—i.e., authentically human. How many changes? How many rebirths? Not only for Snake-woman-child, but for all of us.
Character Evaluation: Margaret (Snake-woman-child) is an atypical protagonist who confronts fears, overcomes adversities, and struggles with vice and the impending uncertainty of change. Truly admirable: a poster-child for resilience.
Resilience is a reoccurring, centralized theme throughout the story’s evolution. From rich to poor, Aboriginal to white, if there is one consistency it’s that the insecurities of humanity touches all lives.
Hamilton allows every character to manifest a different, after conflicting facet of the compendium of life. The protagonist role, for instance, manifests itself in several varieties of friendships that ebb in and out of Margaret’s life. The antagonist role, likewise, is seen in the teachers, the nuns, the politics, and in the societal arrogance and cruelty at large.
Hamilton superbly offers up a cornucopia of personalities to feast our senses upon.
High Points: The depicting prose of Hamilton is sensational. As a writer I was distracted by envy.
“Women beating fans against the air like hummingbirds on the wing, fidgeting boys in white shirts and bow ties, competing girls in pastel nylon frocks, and four or five stalwart men….”—prose that paints church on the canvas of my mind in the way that crunching snow beneath my feet makes me think of Christmas and carols.
As mentioned, I perceived “The Grapes of Wraith:” A family drifting from their ancestral lands in search of hope, redemption, working here and there. The perfect manifestation of hunger, restlessness, and wavering hope—the human condition in totality. The mother saying, “They stole our land, our culture and our children, husband. They don’t believe their own words, so why should we?”
Hamilton exceeded all expectations by twisting my emotions. I actually felt the lonely, desperate search for a lost child. I believed in Anne’s sincerity, that she really was offering a better way of life. I hated the blatant hypocrisy of the nuns at the school. And outright loved Margaret’s innocence.
The question to be answered: Where does happiness reside? And unlike so many writers, he doesn’t answer it for us.
Low Points: The protagonist’s afflictions with vice felt cliché. However, as one of my students who also read the book pointed out, it is the contrast from one’s virtues to faults that substantiates character in humanity.
Also, the consistent religious overtones were tiresome. Hamilton’s seems reluctant to openly criticize what was is so blatantly a ruse.
Did I like this story? Absolutely. I related with the struggles of being a minority of mixed ethnicity. Would I read it again? I will revisit it in parts so as to take away some of those shards of wisdom. Who would I recommend it to? To almost anyone: Students; literary fictions fans; and anyone who enjoys witnessing human perseverance. Note: not for romance aficionados. My rating? Five out five stars as a novel; and four out of five for being a well-crafted piece of literature.

[Asha Stark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final third of this book really let it down.

[Marilou George · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story fully engages you in the social and political climate of the 50s and 60s in Australia. Snake-woman-girl is a young Aboriginal girl who is stolen from her family and forced to live in a government-sponsored school until she is fostered out to a white Australian family. While at the school she is given the name Margaret and when her parents show up and demand for her to be returned to them she is secretly taken to a foster family, the McDonald’s, to live and work on a pineapple farm in the outback.

Margaret embarks on a life that is foreign to her and is thrust into situations that are cruel and demeaning because she is different. She desperately misses her family and waits for them to find her while at the same time learns to accept the behaviors of the people she interacts with and sets out to change their attitudes and find her place in their culture.

The characters in this book are developed with such depth of emotion and realism that you actually feel engaged in their dialogue and the challenges they face as you forge a connection with them. Margaret is the main character; we meet her as a child and follow her to adulthood. She struggles continuously through her childhood holding out hope that her parents will find her and take her home. She also struggles to continue practicing the ways of her people as she ultimately begins to accept the beliefs of the people and influences around her. She struggles to find her own place and sense of self only to become more confused and yearning for a life of her own.

The author's stunning depictions of Margaret's surroundings enable you to visualize the natural beauty of the Australian landscape as well as the harshness of the environment and its impact on the people that live there. This is a story that will arouse your senses and enable you to feel the emotional upheaval of the time and become fully engaged in the story.

All the characters in this book are woven together to tell their story from their own point of view which brings a true sense of intimacy. We are able to view their lives from their perspective and witness the struggles and sense of well-being they all face. Margaret’s foster parents Anne and Sean MacDonald and their daughter Liz are characters that have a stunning impact on Margaret and their impact in the story is powerful.

It is abundantly apparent that George Hamilton put a tremendous amount of research into the writing of this book. The government in the 50’s and 60’s was determined to eliminate the culture of the aboriginal people and the racism and hatred is palpable.

This is an extremely well written, intelligent and inspiring book that I absolutely recommend to all readers. This book is an experience that should not be ignored!

[Siobhan Pratt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like a story that can transport me to another place and time in a way that leaves me feeling I know and understand that place. ‘Secrets From the Dust’ has done just that. The author has managed to weave into his story the social and political climate of the 50s and 60s of Australia. I now have a greater understanding of the mindset of both the native Aboriginals and the immigrants who tried to make Australia home, in both the Outback and the cities.
Parallels are drawn between the two perspectives and then merge in a single character. Margaret is stolen as a young child from her family and re-homed with a white family.
She struggles continuously through what remains of her childhood, her teens and into young womanhood with the desire to find her kin and remember their ways, and her increasing acceptance of European beliefs and aspirations. Sadly, of course, this leaves her constantly confused as to who she is, where she fits in, what she believes in, and who she wants to be.

The book is well researched and successfully colours the Outback as harsh and unforgiving to the newcomers who try to control it, and bountiful and nourishing to those who have lived on and understood the land for centuries.
The story is well structured and flows fluidly between scenes. The formatting is also good.
The portrayal of Margaret and those around her’s evolving emotions and outlooks is thorough and the characters are well developed and presented.

However, as a reader, whilst I was sympathetic to Margaret, and even Anne, her foster mother, and their lives, torments, hopes, disappointments and decisions, I felt I was viewing them as a distant observer. It may be that I did not feel drawn into their lives because of the shortage of engaging dialogue.
Yet that too could be because of the isolation each character felt in their environment and the enormous expanse of the Outback. It certainly lent to a perception of minimal contact between characters.

This book is worth reading for the fascinating insight into Aboriginal culture and customs, and the effect of white supremacy, arrogance and ignorance on their people.

I was first drawn to reading this book by the title and cover.

[Max Tomlinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful family saga of the Australian outback during the turbulent ‘60s

Secrets From The Dust takes place during the time when Australia, like many first world countries, was going through the social upheaval of equal rights. In Australia’s case, those rights pertained to the Aborigines, who were treated as little more than non-persons at the start of the decade.

The story revolves around Margaret, a young Aborigine girl snatched from her parents as part of the country’s assimilation program, and put into a dismal home for reeducation that is Dickensian in its harshness. The girls’ homes were little more than factories for domestic and farm help and abuses were rampant. The opening scene is powerful, as is much of Margaret’s plight, while her real family continues to search for her. She is adopted by an austere farming family and schooled by nuns who force her to act like a good white girl, although they make it clear the best she can ever do is marry ‘up’—i.e. as close to white as possible.

The characters are well-drawn and complex, from Anne, Margaret’s foster mother, who harbors her own cultural alienation, to Sean, her distant foster father, with longings of his own. The setting is the barren outback where growing anything is a constant struggle—a fitting backdrop symbolizing the characters’ emotional infertility.

This is an moving, well-written novel that will reverberate with the reader. The imagery is strong and the descriptions of the characters’ inner turmoil succinct and on target.

My only issue with the book was that I felt dissatisfied by the ending, by far the weakest section, after such a rich journey with Margaret. In my opinion the last thirty pages were too ambiguous for a character as strong as her, although other readers may feel differently. The message I was left with was bleak, and I’m not sure that was the author’s intention.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of Margaret, one of the "Stolen Generation" of mixed race Aboriginals who were forcibly taken from their parents in the 60s and 70s and fostered by white Australian families.

The character of Margaret is a wonderful creation, you first meet her as a child and watch her grow into a young woman. She is believable, fun and likable - you really begin to care for her and hope that life treats her well. She is, in fact, one of the lucky ones - her foster family believe in education, they treat her like a member of the family, and really seem to care for her. She wasn't treated like a servant, beaten or raped as happened to many others. I absolutely adored the character of Anne, her foster mother, who in her own way had a lot of common with Margaret. Anne had come to Australia on the £10 assisted scheme in the hope of a better life wanting to make a good marriage. Finding herself stuck in the outback on the other side of the world to everything and everyone she had grown up with, her situation really was not unlike that Margaret found herself in.

We watch Margaret grow up and watch the effects of her new lifestyle upon her - does she cling to her roots or does she become "westernised"?

Running through the background of the story is something of a social commentary on the Australian political scene during those years, which give an insight into the way the Aboriginal people were treated and discriminated against, some of which makes for quite shocking reading.

The book is extremely well written, with wonderful characters, description and dialogue - it certainly is a book you can pick up and get totally lost in. Highly recommended.

[Rachel Cotterill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Secrets From The Dust is a sweeping and thought-provoking work of historical fiction, telling the story of the early colonization of Australia and the mis-treatment of the aboriginal community.

The central character Margaret is a determined and sometimes rebellious girl, constantly fighting back against the injustices she experiences as a result of her background. On the scale of the aboriginal women in the book, Margaret is one of the lucky ones (she isn't raped, for starters), but her relative good fortune leads to constant internal struggles over her sense of identity, as her resentment towards her kidnappers gradually shifts into appreciation for the material things money can buy.

The narrative takes an omniscient perspective, so we don't only learn Margaret's thoughts; moments where we see into the hearts and minds of her well-meaning foster parents only make her suffering more poignant.

The massive scope of the story (it spans over a decade) means that the pace is uneven, skipping sometimes days and sometimes years at a time, but it reads well and the passing of time is clearly signalled. The only point where I found the pacing to be a problem was at the end, which feels rather rushed for the last few pages, hurrying towards a very sudden ending. A lot of questions were left hanging at the end, and Margaret's fate isn't clearly resolved; I felt this was a bit of a shame, as there had been so much focus on her internal struggles throughout the story and I would have liked to see how she comes to live at peace with herself.

[Karen S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did you ever see the movie, Rabbit Proof Fence? This book is also set in 1960's Australia with a similar focus on the draconian laws that separate Aboriginal parents from their children, should those children have any Caucasian ancestry. In Secrets from the Dust, the main character, Margaret, is stolen from her loving family and forced to live with a white, foster family who do her a "favor",by raising her to live in white culture, relinquishing all vestiges of her own culture. Margaret's dislocation from her family and culture is heartbreaking and Hamilton does a great job drawing the reader into her views and desperate attempts to find somewhere she feels comfortable.

Hamilton's characters are well-developed. Even the most villainous seem realistic. His depiction of a sad period in Australian history elicited a profoundly emotional response from me. At times, his use of language was a bit awkward and distracted me from the story. Plot also lagged at times. Perhaps, the book could use some more editing.But, all in all,Secrets was an interesting read, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the conflict between Australia and her original citizens.

[Kath Middleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the stunning story of Margaret, a mixed race Australian Aboriginal girl, who is captured from her family. She is brought up initially in a school which trains girls in domestic service but is eventually placed with an adoptive white family who have baggage of their own. It’s a sensitive telling of a shocking tale, which respects the native Australians and their beliefs. Margaret chooses to be baptised, seeing it as a way to marry a white person and improve her own children’s lot in life. We see her gradually change her views and try to emulate those who are successful in society. The change is a sad one, as she cannot be accepted, society’s views being as they are.

This is a beautifully written, suspenseful novel and it shocked me in the same way the The Help did. It reminded me that people of differing race and culture had treated one another this way in my own lifetime. No doubt in places people still feel like this but thankfully it isn’t considered acceptable by most of us now. I heartily recommend this novel. It’s a brilliant read!

[Anthea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must admit I struggled a bit with how many stars to give this - my gut reaction was closer to 3 or 3 1/2 stars. I LOVED the first 3/4 of the book but the last quarter was so disjointed and seemed so rushed that I plodded through to the ending, almost not finishing it. In addition there were many distracting grammatical errors...
BUT there was some beautifully descriptive language and most of it was a really good story. I was fascinated (and educated) by the portrayal of Australian aboriginal people and their customs. Their treatment by whites was truly horrible.
So I give Secrets from the Dust 4 stars because I do recommend reading it.

[Melba · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, and it was well-written with an interesting story line. At times I was sad, and then at times angry; however, there were some moments that made me feel happy & excited for the characters. It is sad to see how the white man ruins nearly everything they touch, and that just like they stole the land from Native Americans in North America - they did the same to the Aboriginal people in Australia. I will never understand why they felt that they were somehow superior to all other races, and how they justified claiming all the land for their use and running off those who were on the land before.