A History of Silence is a touching memoir about a country and a landscape. It's about the devastation in Christchurch after the 2011 earthquake and the faultlines that this event opened up in Lloyd Jones' understanding of his own family. It's about how easily we erase from our history, the stories that we find inconvenient. In his typically lyrical and engaging prose, Jones embarks on a journey of discovery. On this journey he finds out more about his country and the landscape that surrounds him, but he also uncovers the truth about his family. This truth is completely unexpected and changes everything. This deeply moving book is about loss and survival and silence.
Throughout this brilliant memoir, the ultimate impact of the book lies with how openly and humanely Jones responds, as an author and a son, to a truer picture of his family - Australian Book Review
Poetically observed detail and an affecting evocation of the past will reward readers interested in the way our history can shape us - Books + Publishing
Lloyd is a masterful writer and his exquisite prose renders a city in much the same manner as a photographer, capturing the disaster before him in all its fine, grainy detail ... A History of Silence is a unique and mesmerising book - Big Issue
A History of Silence is as ... wilful and compelling as his fiction - Canberra Times
Author
About Lloyd Jones
Lloyd Jones lives in Wellington, New Zealand. He travelled to Papua New Guinea at the outset of the blockade and visited the island twice ten years later; once, to visit the New Zealand Peacekeeping mission, the second time to stay with Sam Kauona, the military leader of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army.