Silent Shock

Lyn Rowe was born in Melbourne in 1962, seven months after her mother Wendy was given a new 'wonder drug' for morning sickness called thalidomide.


For fifty years the Rowe family cared for Lyn. Decades of exhausting, round-the-clock work. But then in 2011 Lyn Rowe launched a legal claim against the thalidomide companies. Against the odds, she won a multi-million-dollar settlement.


Former journalist Michael Magazanik is one of the lawyers who ran Lyn's case. In Silent Shock he exposes a fifty-year cover up concerning history's most notorious drug, and details not only the damning case against manufacturers Grünenthal—whose ruthless promotion of their lucrative drug in the face of mounting evidence beggars belief—but also the moving story of the Rowe family. This is an epic account of corporate villainy against a backdrop of heroic personal struggle and sacrifice.


Michael Magazanik has worked as a journalist for the Age, the Australian and ABC-TV, and is now a lawyer with Slater & Gordon. He lives in Melbourne with his partner and three children.


‘Magazanik—a lawyer on the Rowes’ legal team and a former journalist—has woven an extraordinary story…Magazanik has moulded [the Rowes'] story into a modern Australian myth, the battlers who took on the pharmaceuticals and won.‘ Age


‘A harrowing read of the damage wrought by this infamous drug.’ WA Today


‘A frightening account of secrets in the pharmaceutical industry and the inspiring story of a family and their legal team that just wouldn’t give up.’ Law Society Journal


‘Silent Shock is an ambitious, important book…Magazanik does an excellent job.’ Australian Book Review