The Quality of Silence: A Novel by Rosamund Lupton

The Quality of Silence was a very interesting, often strange novel. Parts of the story were indeed interesting, but honestly I had borrowed this book from the library instead of having received it for free from Crown Publishers in return for my honest review, I may not have finished it.  I just found the main characters hard to relate to at first.  I thought they were delusional and ridiculous for the risks they were taking, but the surprise ending changed those initial impressions.  I don't want to spoil anything for other readers, so I won't elaborate any further.  Let's just say the book has plenty of twists and suspense and is a great example of the power of love and the resilience of the human spirit.

When I look at the Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data in the front of the book, it lists the following topics: Widows, deaf children, mothers and daughters, wilderness survival-Alaska.  I agree the book was about all those topics, but I honestly thought more than anything it is a discourse against fracking. 

It is true that it is about a relationship between a mother and daughter, but it's also about a relationship between a father and daughter, as well as a relationship between a husband and wife.  There is a complexity to each of those relationships in this story that I enjoyed.  Ms. Lupton did a good job developing those relationships and the characters in them.

The Quality of Silence refers to the daughter in the story, Ruby, a ten-year old girl who is deaf.  Her mother, Yasmin, is worried that Ruby will have a hard time in a hearing world if she has no voice and encourages her to speak orally, but her father Matt, a wildlife photographer, understands that she prefers to sign or use her computer and is okay with that. 

It was interesting to learn more about Alaska.  I was especially fascinated with how incredibly cold it is there and the drastic steps the characters had to take to protect themselves against the cold.  It was also rather unbelievable to me the extreme dangers that truckers in Alaska face.  Couldn't pay me enough to do that job!

Miriam: A Treasures of the Nile Novel by Mesu Andrews

I really liked Miriam, the second book of the Treasures of the Nile series.  Mesu Andrews does a wonderful job of making Biblical characters come alive.  I have read about Miriam in Exodus many times, but she was always a two-dimensional person.  Andrews adds the third dimension for me.

Mesu Andrews uses the Bible itself as her primary source, but also studies historical sources for details about food, dress, customs of Egypt, etc.  Then when she adds in her imaginings of how people would have felt, loved, lived, and mourned, it makes for a fascinating read.  In her note to the reader at the beginning of the book, Andrews says that she wants her reader to compare her fiction to the truth of God's Word, and she gave me just such a desire.  That to me is good Christian fiction!

Miriam is such a passionate, gifted woman.  We first meet her in the pages of Scripture as Moses' older sister, sent to watch her baby brother when his parents launch him into the Nile in a basket, in order to save his life. When she grew up she was a midwife, skilled with herbs and plants and knowledge of their healing properties.  She was also a prophetess of El Shaddai and a leader among the Israelites, especially the women.  Miriam was also a worship leader and song leader.  What an amazing woman and a godly example for all believers.

I'm sure you will enjoy this book as I did, as well as the first book in the series, The Pharaoh's Daughter. I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.