Book I — Before We Had Words

 

BOOK I — Before We Had Words

Book I — Before We Had Words follows the early lives of Geoffrey and Embong from childhood into adolescence, tracing how two boys from different cultures begin to recognise safety in one another before they understand what that recognition means. Set across schoolyards, classrooms, and family homes in 1990s Australia, the novel explores migration, inheritance, and the unspoken pressures placed on children long before choice is possible. Through moments of misunderstanding, quiet loyalty, and cultural translation, Book I shows how belonging can form without declaration, and how the foundations of chosen family are laid not through dramatic events, but through presence, restraint, and shared silence—long before love, loss, or commitment have names.

  
 

Prologue — Book I : Before We Had Words

 

Chapter 1 — Book I : Letters Across Water

 

Chapter 2 — Book I : What He Learned to Leave

 

Chapter 3 — Book I : Where We Resume

 

Chapter 4 — Book I : Finding the Rhythm

 

Chapter 5 — Book I : How We Sounded Together

 

Chapter 6 — Book I : What Embong Sang

 

Chapter 7 — Book I : Our Front Doors Face the Same Sky

 

Chapter 8 — Book I : Glengarry Second Intake

 

Chapter 9 — Book I : Where We Ate

 

Chapter 10 — Book I : Across the River

 

Chapter 11 — Book I : The Year That Didn’t End

 

Chapter 12 — Book I : Expected to Stay

 

Chapter 13 — Book I : A Place at the Table

 

Chapter 14 — Book I : Folded In

Chapter 15 — Book I : The Week We Were Almost Adults

 

Epilogue — Book I : What We Call Home