For readers of The Light We Lost and Me Before You, a life-affirming, deeply moving story about lies, loss and a love that is louder than words.“The premise alone had me, but The Silent Treatment itself is just heartrendingly lovely. It’s beautiful, so moving and clever. I truly adored it.” — Josie Silver, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One Day in DecemberA lifetime together. Six … Times bestselling author of One Day in December
A lifetime together.
Six months of silence.
One last chance.
By all appearances, Frank and Maggie share a happy, loving marriage. But for the past six months, they have not spoken. Not a sentence, not a single word. Maggie isn’t sure what, exactly, provoked Frank’s silence, though she has a few ideas.
Day after day, they have eaten meals together and slept in the same bed in an increasingly uncomfortable silence that has become, for Maggie, deafening.
Then Frank finds Maggie collapsed in the kitchen, unconscious, an empty package of sleeping pills on the table. Rushed to the hospital, she is placed in a medically induced coma while the doctors assess the damage.
If she regains consciousness, Maggie may never be the same. Though he is overwhelmed at the thought of losing his wife, will Frank be able to find his voice once again—and explain his withdrawal—or is it too late?
“A remarkably assured debut which doesn’t go where you expect it to go. I very much look forward to seeing what she writes next.” — Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author
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A remarkably assured debut which doesn’t go where you expect it to go. I very much look forward to seeing what she writes next.
In her tremendously moving debut, a novel that pulses with emotional tension, Abbie Greaves masterfully unpicks a history of ordinary lives facing extraordinary challenges. I found it impossible to look away from the relationship at the heart of this novel.
“Abbie Greaves held me spellbound with this intimate, emotional story of the brutal power of silence and ostracism. Yet this deep dive into a troubled marriage is ultimately uplifting as Frank and Maggie make their way through the challenges of isolation, mental health, ageing, and the yearning for connection. Keep the tissues handy for this lovely read.”
Favorite Quote:
I have no intention of being cruel, really I don’t, I never do. The sad reality is that often our behavior will do it for us, unwilled and unwilling. My silence is the very best example.
My Review:
Never have I read prose so elegantly detailed with an uncommon poignancy of tiny movements that continually plucked at my heartstrings while taunting my inquisitive nature to an unbearable level. The characters were devastatingly fractured, highly idiosyncratic, and oddly captivating. Narrated from a dual POV in two separate sections, each was evocatively written in an arresting style that held me transfixed to my Kindle while growing increasingly fretful and taut with tension. Ms. Greaves is a crafty and cunning wordsmith who kept me ensnared and suspended in an eager and avid state of curiosity. I was engaged, engrossed, and intrigued by the characters, their history, and the prickly and precarious unfolding story of their guarded present. And all this from a debut author. I am in complete and utter awe.
In an urgent race against the clock, the layers of Frank and Maggie’s decades-long love story are peeled back to reveal the heartrending secrets that lurk below. But will the truth save Maggie’s life, let alone their marriage? Greaves’ gripping and poignant debut had me hooked from beginning to end.
The premise alone had me, but The Silent Treatment itself is just heartrendingly lovely. It’s beautiful, so moving and clever. I truly adored it.
Not so much a case of ‘he said/she said’ as ‘he didn’t say/she didn’t say,’ this moving debut unpicks the secret selves of Maggie and Frank to reveal the tragic miscommunications of their broken family. It’s a pleasure to read such a stylish and confident new voice — readers are going to love discovering Abbie Greaves.
The Silent Treatment is a gorgeous heart-breaker of a novel ― an intimate, unpretentious, precisely drawn and surprisingly suspenseful look at a decades-long marriage: how it soars and plummets and, gem-like, alters its appearance under different lights. Abbie Greaves has a bright future and I can’t wait to see what it brings.
Book is both happy and sad. Kept me to the very end.
I liked the premise of the story. What would cause a husband to stop talking? I could feel for both but I didn’t connect. The story was slow moving. I felt there was mental health issues with the female lead that could have been addressed. Just couldn’t get into it.
Such a well written book! A very raw look into the marriage relationship…I loved the characters and found the book extremely thought provoking.
An original and moving debut from a talented new voice.