The Quality Of Silence – Rosamund Lupton

[amazon_link id=”0349408122″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’The Quality Of Silence’ is Rosamund Lupton’s new book.

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.

I’m a huge fan of Rosamund Lupton, I read her debut book ‘Sister’ a few years ago and was mesmerized by her gripping and dark writing and ‘The Quality Of Silence’ was just as tragically beautiful.

Written against the bleak and cruel backdrop of Alaska, the story is uniquely written through the perspective of Yasmin and her deaf daughter Ruby. Yasmin is written in the third person whereas Ruby is in the first person, giving the young girl a voice where she is more accustomed to signing. The story follows the pair as they travel across Alaska in treacherous weather, hoping to find Ruby’s father Matt who has reportedly died in a huge blaze. Alone, while a huge storm is in progress, Ruby and Yasmin travel across unfamiliar ground in a huge truck determined to find Matt, whilst being followed by a strange truck.

The mother and daughter are pretty much the sole characters of the story, stuck in their claustrophobic truck cabin, they argue, fear and hope that Matt will be found safe. Yasmin is a beautiful young woman, who wishes her daughter had a better quality of life and wasn’t victimised for her disability, she doesn’t realise that in her own way Ruby is happy and wishes her mother wouldn’t nag at her to use her human voice, which she is terribly uncomfortable about.
Set in the present, but also featuring flashbacks of Yasmin’s life give an interesting insight into how she became the woman she has become and her fears for Matt, even though she tries to hide the truth from Ruby, she is unaware of how perceptive her daughter is. I thought the two perspectives of the story, gave two wonderful versions of emotions, the grown up with the stress and struggle and the child with the naivety and innocence.

Stuck in the remote part of the world, where it seems that everyone and everything is against them, this story is dark, eerie and makes for unsettling reading at times. Filled with suspense from the first very page, ‘The Quality Of Silence’ is chilling and twisted story that will you shivering throughout.

You can [amazon_link id=”0349408122″ target=”_blank” ]The Quality of Silence from Amazon [/amazon_link]and will be available to buy from good bookshops.