A Little Bird Told Me: Family Secrets, Necessary Lies

by Lynette Russell

A quiet suburban backyard. A small child sits on her grandmother's knee. A little bird arrives in the garden. 'What has he come to tell us?' asks Nanna ...
This is a true story about lots of little secrets and one big one. It's the spare and painful tale of the author's family and the hidden strands she found underweaving its history - a story embedded in the ancestry of many white Australians.
What was it that Lynette's grandmother could not tell her? Why did she cover her face in pale make-up? Who was her own mother, Emily, the 'Polynesian princess'? And what happened when Emily 'was taken away from us for some time'?
In A Little Bird Told Me, Lynette Russell finds out the answers to these questions, unearthing secrets kept by her family for generations. In doing this, she learns who she really is, and comes to know the importance of belonging.

168 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author's grandmother has the secret that is the premise for this book. Her grandmother went to her grave without discussing her secret with her family. Lynette Russell writes of her research in trying to discover the secret, but I found the book to be a bit meandering, and in the end, it left me with very little conclusions or proven facts.