3.5
The Weight of Silence
ByPublisher Description
Masterfully written and beautifully told, Heather Gudenkauf's debut is a stunning novel of family devotion, honesty and regret that will linger long after the last page is turned.
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 a 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.
Don’t miss Heather’s upcoming twisty locked-room thriller, EVERYONE IS WATCHING!
And don't miss these other great stories by Heather!
These Things Hidden
Little Mercies
Missing Pieces
Not a Sound
Before She Was Found
This is How I Lied
The Overnight Guest
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 a 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.
Don’t miss Heather’s upcoming twisty locked-room thriller, EVERYONE IS WATCHING!
And don't miss these other great stories by Heather!
These Things Hidden
Little Mercies
Missing Pieces
Not a Sound
Before She Was Found
This is How I Lied
The Overnight Guest
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities1796 Reviews
3.5
Emily
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Grace Elder
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Diane
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Kennedy
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“This book was incredibly beautiful! I am not usually a fan of such a slow paced book(all takes place in 15ish hours) but it worked. I will say some of the flashbacks were unnecessary and I did feel like Lucky was an obvious choice for the kidnapper after he was one of the only “extra” characters introduced.”Meredith S
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“This is fiction, but it’s not. The core tenants of this story are real for more families than we want to believe. I had a difficult time reading it because of my husband’s work in law enforcement - it frankly read as non-fiction written in a novel style. Selecting the trigger warnings on Fable was sad, knowing that we have people in our community who have experienced really similar situations (some more tragic than this).
If you have a heart for protecting kiddos, this will be a really challenging read.
As for reading, I’m not a fan of rotating through multiple POVs but this worked well. I didn’t get confused. There were moments of backstory or memory recall that I found unnecessary and slowed down the pace a bit.
The ending left me hoping for just a bit more resolve, and that fits this non-fiction-fiction story.”
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