Shortlisted for the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award

Silence is complicity, but what does it take to speak up?

Hannah is a journalist running on empty. Balancing the chaos of new motherhood, her job and her faith, she increasingly feels the judgement of a newsroom that doesn’t value her voice. Ashraf is an academic whose career and personal life are in freefall.

As Israel’s bombardment of Gaza intensifies, a teenage student is arrested for protesting a university’s ties to an Israeli arms manufacturer. Both Hannah and Ashraf are pulled into the unfolding drama – but in very different ways. While Hannah fights to tell the true story, risking her place in the newsroom, Ashraf chooses caution, prioritising his reputation as the stakes rise around him.

As their paths begin to converge, both must confront what they are willing to stand for – and what their silence might cost them.