The Weight of Silence
Author: Heather Gudenkauf
373 Pages in Paperback
Published: July 28, 2009
Dates Book was Re-Read: January 26- February 13, 2016
My Rating: 5 Stars
Book Summary from Amazon:
It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn’s shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.
Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler.
Calli’s mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter’s voice.
Petra Gregory is Calli’s best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.
Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.
My review:
Back in 2012 I listened to The Weight of Silence and These Things Hidden on audio book and I quickly became a fan of Heather Gudenkauf. I decided that this year I wanted to re-read them and read all her others novels, which I own, but sadly had not read yet.
The Weight of Silence blew me away again!!!! I did not want to put it down! This is a great debut novel. Since it had been several years since I had listened to it, I couldn’t remember what was going to happen, so in some ways it was as if I was reading it for the first time. I enjoyed the multiple points of view to get the whole story from several characters. I was in suspense as to what was going to happen to Petra and Calli and hoping they would be fine.
The Weight of Silence is highly recommended!!