The Silence Between Us

The Silence Between Us is a raw and original double memoir tracing a mother and daughter as they try to understand and rebuild their relationship after the daughter's suicide attempt.

Because Oceane had just turned eighteen when she tried to end her life, the hospital had to respect her request: to not notify her parents. Years later, when Oceane asked her mother, Cécile, to write something together about this period of their lives, she never expected that Cécile would already have so many pages hidden away, filled with words that she began to write when she eventually learned of Oceane’s suicide attempt.

In The Silence Between Us, Oceane pieces together her story through old diary entries, emails, hospital records and psychiatric reports, interspersed with Cécile’s own intense account of caring for her fiercely independent daughter. Slowly we learn about the intergenerational trauma that forced the chasm between Oceane and Cécile, as well as the campus sexual assault that pushed Oceane over the edge. As Oceane lets Cécile back into her life and they attempt to negotiate both the mental health and legal systems, we also see the fractures start to mend.

At once delicate and unflinching, The Silence Between Us dares to say all the things we’d rather avoid when it comes to mental health, women's voices and family relationships.

Includes foreword by psychiatrist Pat McGorry AO, professor of youth mental health and former Australian of the Year.

About the Authors

Cecile Barral is the mother of three adult children, a grandmother, a gardener, a bush lover and a journal keeper. She is a psychotherapist with over 35 years of experience specialising in complex developmental trauma and has a special interest in the use of writing to help process such traumas. Cecile is very actively involved in ANZAP (Australia and New Zealand Association of Psychotherapy), being on its teaching faculty and management committee.

Oceane Campbell is Cecile's third child and frequently wonders how Cecile survived living in a tent for a year with three children under three. Oceane and her wife have three children on their own, and Oceane is a proud and passionate midwife. She has published a number of midwifery articles and presented at many midwifery conferences. Before becoming a midwife, Oceane completed a psychology degree with honours and dabbled in less interesting jobs in corporate advisory and policy writing.