The Silence in the Sound is a dual timeline novel, switching back and forth from the story past to the story present. It vividly portrays the effects of addiction on families. George (short for Georgette) has an alcoholic father and a mother who enables his behavior. George’s fondest memory is of a weekend trip she and her father took to Martha’s Vineyard. When he gives an impromptu speech at an Alcoholic Anonymous meeting there, she begins to understand his character better, grasping more about what prompts his behavior. She begins seeing him as a flawed man, not just as her father.
She returns to Martha’s Vineyard after completing nursing school and eventually works for a Pulitzer Prize winning author, Mr. S. George also falls in love with an enigmatic man, Dock. She has conflicting emotions about him, particularly because she senses an inherent danger about him and because of his erratic behavior. Deciding love will conquer all, though, she marries him.
The dual timelines spiral to form the DNA of George’s behavior. Later, a third component arises as George reads Mr. S’s novel about a woman in the Holocaust. I found the book difficult to put down and dreads George’s inevitable return to behaviors she’s worked hard to overcome. The scenes showing Dock detoxing were particularly devastating. Dianne C. Braley has taken knowledge she derived from her profession as a nurse and braided it with her own love of writing.
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The Silence in the Sound (Koehler Books, August 23, 2022) is available through:
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