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.