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  • Published: 4 February 2025
  • ISBN: 9781761344572
  • Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $34.99

Half Truth




A daughter searches for her father; a mother for her son. From isolated Tasmania to vibrant Morocco, two women seek the truth about what happened to the same man.

Khadija is packing up her home of fifty years. In her box of special belongings are the last reminders she has of her son Ahmed, missing for more than twenty years. Her belongings take her back to her village childhood, her marriage and move to Marrakesh, and the birth of Ahmed when she was just thirteen.

In Cloudy Bay, Tasmania, Zahra is in the throes of new motherhood and desperate for answers about her own identity. She decides to take her baby to Morocco and search for the father she has never known. There she finds an extensive loving family and a culture ready to embrace her, but no father.

Zahra and Khadija’s stories collide – giving Khadija the power to move on, and Zahra the courage to reshape herself into a mother and African Australian woman, ready to create a fulfilling life for her son and herself.

A moving Moroccan Australian family drama charting families, motherhood and loss, identity and belonging.

  • Published: 4 February 2025
  • ISBN: 9781761344572
  • Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia Audio
  • Format: Audio Download
  • RRP: $34.99

About the author

Nadia Mahjouri

Nadia Mahjouri is a Moroccan-Australian writer and mother of five, from nipaluna, lutruwita. She is a group facilitator and counsellor, specialising in perinatal mental health. Her professional background is in health policy, and academia, focusing on ethics and feminist philosophy.

Her first novel Half Truth is inspired by her own experience searching for her family in Marrakech.

Praise for Half Truth

A remarkable and unforgettable story of love, culture, women and family that traverses generations and continents. Mahjouri has made a unique and beautiful contribution to Australian literature.

Heather Rose

Half tragic, half hopeful, all heart. Australian storytelling in its most truthful form.

Michael Mohammed Ahmad
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