The Rest is Silence by Carla Guelfenbein
As the adults sit down to gossip over a long wedding lunch and the rest of the children rush off to play, a young boy slips out of sight beneath the table. Tommy is twelve years old but his weak heart prevents him from joining his cousins' games, so he sets his MP3 player to record the voices chattering above him. But then the conversation turns to his mother's death and he overhears something he was never meant to know: that she didn't die of an illness, but took her own life. Confused and hurt, Tommy keeps what he has learned to himself and begins his own secret investigation into what really happened. At the same time, his father and stepmother have problems of their own to contend with. Juan is racked by private grief and guilt after the death of one of his patients, and Alma, his second wife, senses an increasing distance in their marriage and gradually finds herself drawn back towards an old flame. As all three withdraw into their own worlds, leaving more and more unsaid between them, their family story moves inexorably, affectingly towards its devastating conclusion.
As Carla Guelfenbein demonstrates in this intricately woven novel, the pursuit of individual fulfilment and happiness can lead ineluctably to tragedySubtle, clearsighted, and compassionate. -- J M Coetzee
A beautiful novel * Grazia *
From foreboding beginnings, The Rest is Silence progresses to a tragic climax ... a bleakly emotional novel. -- Tina Jackson * Metro *
[Written] with a refreshingly guileless passion... Guelfenbein is a steely truth-teller. -- Adrian Turpin * Financial Times *
In Guelfenbein's tender story, the unravelling of memories is a potent force... but as well as examining the role of memory in dealing with loss, The Rest is Silence is also about the redemptive power of love. -- Lucy Popescu * Independent *
A beautiful novel * Grazia *
From foreboding beginnings, The Rest is Silence progresses to a tragic climax ... a bleakly emotional novel. -- Tina Jackson * Metro *
[Written] with a refreshingly guileless passion... Guelfenbein is a steely truth-teller. -- Adrian Turpin * Financial Times *
In Guelfenbein's tender story, the unravelling of memories is a potent force... but as well as examining the role of memory in dealing with loss, The Rest is Silence is also about the redemptive power of love. -- Lucy Popescu * Independent *
CARLA GUELFENBEIN was born in Santiago, Chile, and lived in England for 11 years, where she took degrees at the University of Essex and Central St Martin's. Returning to Chile, she worked as Fashion Director for the magazine Elle, until she decided to become a full-time novelist and screenwriter. After a very successful first novel, Alma's Dreams, her second novel, The Woman Of My Life, was at the top of the best-seller for several weeks in Chile and translated into 12 languages. The Rest Is Silence is her third novel, but her first to be in English.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781846272318 |
| ISBN 10 | 1846272319 |
| Title | The Rest is Silence |
| Author | Carla Guelfenbein |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Granta Books |
| Year published | 2011-05-05 |
| Number of pages | 272 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |