SECRETS FROM THE DUST [Kindle Edition]

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

Being an Australian of Aboriginal ancestry (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 Aboriginal heritage 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 Australia in the 1960s and 70s 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.

Between 1910 and 1969 Australia had what was known as The Stolen Generation. Children of mixed heritage of the Aboriginal tribes were forcefully abducted from their parents. Taken to orphanages or church missions and made wards of the state, they were adopted out and their families never saw them again. Secrets From The Dust is the story of one girl and her life, and although a fictional story, depicts that time. Renamed Margaret, she was better known to the tribe as Snake -Woman- Child. Although her father located her, he was unable to get her back away from the mission. Margaret fared better than most as the family that adopted her believed in education. She continued her education in Sydney where she became a nurse. Through the years she had to come to terms of her true identity and culture in which she was reared.

This book was very hard to put down. This is a fictional account but clearly demonstrates the plight of the aboriginals and how they were treated. This book is very well written. It was easy to connect with the characters.

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