Author: Rosamund Lupton
Published: July 2nd 2015 by Little Brown
Amazon | Amazon UK
Blurb: On 24th November Yasmin and her deaf daughter Ruby arrive in Alaska.
Within hours they are driving alone across a frozen wilderness
Where nothing grows
Where no one lives
Where tears freeze
And night will last for another fifty-four days.
They are looking for Ruby's father.
Travelling deeper into a silent land.
They still cannot find him.
And someone is watching them in the dark.
First of all I would like to thank the publishers for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
Review: The Quality of Silence is one of the most evocative and gripping books I've read in a while. Set in desolate yet beautiful Alaska, it tells the story of Ruby, a ten-year-old deaf girl, and her mother, beautiful but even cleverer Yasmin. They arrive at Alaska in the middle of winter, or I should say, in the middle of the night, as there won't be a ray of light in the whole story. Ruby's father, Matt, is a wildlife photographer and is staying with an Inupiat village. He is supposed to pick them up in the airport but as soon as they land, they know something is wrong.
Soon, Yasmin and Ruby find themselves fighting against everything and everyone to try to find him. They embark in an extremely dangerous journey through the north of Alaska in the middle of a terrible snow storm. As you can image, the atmosphere of book gets chillier and chillier as they start venturing into the wildest and most unforgiving areas of the world, past the Arctic Circle.
Yasmin is such a strong female character. Driven by love and fear, she is fiercely protective of her daughter. Even if they not always understand each other. Deafness plays a big role in the story too. Ruby is one of the brightest and funniest girls you can find but most people can't communicate with her, some do not even see her. Her mother wants her to use her voice, but she already uses her voice: her hands. She signs. I've had the pleasure of meeting quite a lot of deaf people since I started learning Sign Language some years ago and loved reading about Ruby. She is naive but knows so much at the same time. Her understanding of the world was really amazing. She certainly was a joy to read.
Actually, the book uses both 3rd person and 1st person narrative. When we are reading from Yasmin's point of view, Rosamund Lupton uses 3rd person and we feel close to her but no too close. But when we are reading from Ruby's, the 1st person narrative allows us to really connect with her and we can clearly see the story through her eyes and hands.
The Quality of Silence is a chilly (really chilly) and evocative thriller that will capture you from page one. With a lot of social criticism about fracking, the respect for the Alaska native population, the preservation of nature and how we, as humans, impact in our tiny and unique planet, this is a novel that will make you think a lot and reflect on our lives. It won't leave anyone indifferent.
I highly recommend this evocative and suspenseful thriller. Beautifully written, it will make you shiver more than once.
Rating:
Rosamund Lupton graduated from Cambridge University in 1986. After reviewing books for the Literary Review and being invited to join the Royal Court Theatre, she won a television play competition and subsequently worked as a full-time script writer for television and film.
Her first novel, Sister, was the fastest-selling debut of 2010 by a British author and was the winner of the Richard and Judy Best Debut Novel of 2011. It was also chosen for Radio 4’s
Book at Bedtime. Her second novel, Afterwards, was the second biggest-selling fiction title of 2011 as listed by The Sunday Times, with UK sales alone of more than 200,000 copies.
Visit http://www.rosamundlupton.com/ and follow on twitter @Rosamundlupton
Follow the Blog Tour for this amazing title:
Follow the Blog Tour for this amazing title:
