Sunday, December 20, 2015

The Quality of Silence (Rosamund Lupton)

Rosamund Lupton's truly stunning The Quality of Silence is a book probably unlike anything you've read before.  The gripping plotline will make your heart pound as it races to its powerful climax.

We begin with Yasmin and Ruby, an English mother and daughter trying to find Matt, their husband/father, in the Alaskan wilderness.  Authorities have never searched for him, convinced that he perished in a fire with villagers he was staying with.  Yasmin refuses to believe this, and so sets off to find him with Ruby in tow; Ruby just happens to be deaf which plays an integral part in the story.  Getting to the village is almost impossible, so Yasmin steals a big rig truck.  Of course, there are plenty of obstacles, such as an enormous storm and someone ominously following them in their own truck; this person will apparently do anything in his power to prevent them from finding Matt.

Besides the engrossing plot, what makes The Quality of Silence also great is that the setting is almost a character in and of itself.  Lupton's descriptions of the Alaskan terrain are mesmerizing, and we as readers can't help but root Yasmin and Ruby on in their determined quest.

MY RATING - 4