I really struggled to get into this . The idea is good but it was something I struggled with so gave up.

DNF'd at 30% - I struggled to stay interested in this one, I couldn't really connect to the characters, though the concept was fascinating.

The Silence Project is a unique novel. You might think you’ve read stories about cults and their bold, twisted leaders before. But none are quite like this. The author has taken a fascinating and popular subject and written it from a new perspective – the perspective of a cult leader’s daughter.

When Emilia is thirteen, her mother, Rachel, moves out of the family home and local pub and sets up camp at the bottom of their garden. From that day on, Rachel never says another word. And, somehow, by staying silent, one woman manages to attract a Community, and start an international movement responsible for the death of thousands.

But this story isn’t really about Rachel building her community of followers, it’s about Emilia and her unique life and her struggle with her mother’s constant presence and publicity and, eventually, her mother’s death and legacy. The author delicately explores this extremely complicated mother-daughter relationship, playing out against the backdrop of a growing movement headed for destruction.

The entire story is written in the form of Emilia’s autobiography. It’s an interesting approach but it didn’t quite work for me. I enjoyed the earlier sections chronicling her formative years, as she’s more closely connected to her mother during this period. But, when her mother burns herself to death in the name of her cause (not a spoiler – this is revealed in the first few pages), some of Emilia’s narration and actions start to feel a little off. The writing is quite detached in places, with lengthy quotes citing other books on the topic of cults and the Community – citations which may have been interesting, if it wasn’t that I knew they were fictional too.

Emilia’s journey in the second half of the novel takes a very different path to what I’d expected. The death of their leader doesn’t destroy the Community, instead it forces it to grow and evolve into something even more powerful and dangerous. In their quest to stop the world’s problems, the Community manages to create a few of their own. The book starts out as a personal tale of how one woman’s action cause incredible ramifications, but at the end it becomes more an exploration of politics and power on a global scale. A tale of two halves for me, but there’s lots to be taken from this story nonetheless.

On Emilia Morris's thirteenth birthday, her mother Rachel moves into a tent at the bottom of their garden. From that day on, she never says another word.
Inspired by Rachel's example, other women join her and together they build the Community. Eight years later, Rachel and thousands of her followers shock the world as they silence themselves forever.
In the aftermath of what comes to be known as the Event, the Community's global influence quickly grows. As a result, the whole world has an opinion about Rachel - whether they see her as a callous monster or a heroic martyr - but Emilia has never voiced hers publicly. Until now.

This is a thrilling read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and action with wonderful world building.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I read a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

This story was hard hitting in places as a now adult Emilia recounts her story of how her mother one day decided to stop talking, move into a tent at the bottom of the garden and possibly accidentally (or maybe not) start a cult.

The cult – or Community as it becomes known, gradually gains power almost in the background of the story, which makes it’s pinnacle Event somehow even more shocking. It’s a really interesting way for the author have it play out, Rachel and her Community are the reason for the story but the story we are being told is that of how Rachel and her choice effected the life of her daughter and Emilia herself was not privy to a lot of what happened in those 8 years between Rachel deciding not to talk and the Event.

Emilia has a lot of trauma to work through in telling her story, effective abandonment by her mother at the start of her teen years, dealing with the aftermath of The Event and the impact that had on her both at the time and how it changed the direction of her life, the fact her mother is still ‘worshipped’ by the increasingly powerful Community. This is not a light hearted story at all but it was thoroughly readable and Emelia felt very real.

I’m late to reading this one as it shamefully sat on my Netgalley list for far longer than it deserved to so I have to thank Atlantic Books for sending me a copy for review – and apologise for my tardiness in reading it!

A satisfying read that leaves you pondering its themes long after you have finished. Suspenseful storytelling that keeps you engaged from beginning to end and a book I really enjoyed

I really struggled with this, the story idea really intrigued me but I just couldn’t get into the storyline.

The Silence Project is written from the point of view of Emilia Morris. On her 12th birthday her mother, Rachel decided to move into a tent at the bottom of the garden. She also commits to never speak a word ever again. As word spreads about the silent woman who listens and doesn’t speak, other women come to join her and before long a community is built up. But, only 8 years later many of these followers decide to silence themselves forever in an event which shakes the world and pushes Emilia into the spotlight as the surviving daughter.

After the big event, the community continues to grow and evolve and become a global group and so everyone seems to know or have something to say about Rachel, except her daughter, Emilia. Until now. Now she has decided to speak out and tell her story.

One of the first things that stood out to me about this book was that it is written in the 1st and 2nd tense which is a rarity in books. This is written in memoir format as if the events which took place were real and even refers to diaries of Emilia’s which of course don’t exist. The rare but effective use of the 2nd person is often used to emphasise a point or remind the reader of something that if this were real they would most likely know about.

Emilia’s account is raw, emotional and completely from the heart as she regales us with the tales of her mother as well as Emilia’s life and how she was affected. She also includes letters written by other important characters in the story such as her father and her best friend, two people who were always around during the time in which Rachel’s cult was created and grew.

This is a story of how one person’s beliefs and legacy can get out of hand. Although referred to as a community the word cult very much springs to mind and this novel highlights the dangers of a cult. It also shows the aftermath of Rachel and others big event and how the cult grows under new leadership, often twisting and changing Rachel’s written word to adapt to the way they want to run it.

In Harry Potter, Voldemort said “There is no good and evil. There is only power, and those too weak to seek it” and the power struggle is very much rife in this book. When Rachel starts her vow of silence it is more an inner power, but as the community/ cult grows those who seek more power are often the ones willing to put others in harm’s way to achieve it.

The activities in which the cult take part in especially post Rachel could often be seen as controversial as well as another way to seek power elsewhere and this book is sure to shock you at the lengths some members go to, in order to achieve this power.

The format in which Carole writes makes the story become almost too real at times and it is easy to become infuriated that people would do this, until you remember it is all fiction. Surely the sign of a fantastic writer. The pacing is perfect and I never found myself bored, in fact the theme combined with the format and narrative gripped me throughout.

If you are looking for a controversial, emotional read about cults and the dangers of them I would highly recommend this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – A gripping read which will have you hooked until the end.

Couldn’t get into it, gave up. It even halfway through. Sorry to the writer but not for me. Good premise and i did try and didn’t keep me gripped and as life is too short to stay with a dull book I moved on.

We follow through the life of Emilia whose mother decides to move to the bottom of the garden to live her life out in silence. After the event her mother Rachel of Chalkham becomes the famous martyr of the community. This is the story of Emilia coming to terms with the events that her mother
set in motion and how to live up to expectations of being her mother’s daughter when she decides to
publish her mother’s private notebooks. Will Emilia join the movement or Will Emilia begin to
question the communities’ motives?

I felt this was an original idea and the autobiography writing style was so well done. I found myself on many occasions wanting to google some of the events depicted in this book. They were so well described I temporary forgot that it wasn’t real. The content gave the reader a lot to contemplate
especially around themes of grief, survivor guilt, how cults work and the power of propaganda from powerful organisations. The ideologies that the community begin to work on around population control where a scary projection into the future.

This would make an excellent book club choice with there being a lot of threads to discuss along with the unusual writing style. This is worth a read.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you enjoy compelling and memorable reads then The Silence Project is for you. A remarkable and original plot that you will find yourself discussing with friends.

I feel like this is definitely a book for book clubs. There’s lots to talk about and lots to dissect. I also feel like it would make a fantastic movie or tv series. I enjoyed that it was written in a true crime/autobiography style, part of which was in the style of a book being written and part in the style of the writers' thoughts. The storyline was dystopian feeling, but in a way I’ve never really seen before. It really is quite hard to put my thoughts on this book down on paper (digital paper) but I really did enjoy it and it certainly was something different.

✩​​✩✩✩

I can’t decide if I really liked this one or not, it was a fictional memoir which I thought was really interesting but I did struggle with it a little. Overall I do think people should give this a read as it was fascinating especially when I really got into the story and I really did have to keep checking they weren’t a real community as it really felt like they could have been!

The Silence Project by Carole Hailey had such an intriguing premise - a woman, Rachel, suddenly stops speaking and moves to a tent at the bottom of her garden. "Rachel of Chalkham", as she is soon known, becomes an icon worthy of a following worldwide - and "The Community" is born. Rachel's silent protest at the state of the world culminates in a horrific display of mass martyrdom that shocks the world - and leaves thousands of families broken.

The book is written from the perspective of Emilia, Rachel's daughter, who was thirteen when her mother left the family pub to live in the garden. Emilia has chosen to publish her mother's diaries along with a long awaited companion piece, but not all are happy about it.

The notion of a woman just walking away from her family in total silence to protest peacefully at the state of the planet was really intriguing to me, and the first section of the book had me hooked. Unfortunately, I felt that after such a strong start, the rest of the book didn't quite live up to the beginning. Rachel's mental health wasn't mentioned once, from what I recall, and that's really odd to me. This woman just decided to live in a tent in the garden and her husband was like "ah yeah, my wife lives in the garden now" - ??

The absence of Rachel's actual voice throughout was disappointing to me. I wanted to know why she did it - and I feel like I never got to know that, despite a few insights here and there.

I can't understand why Emilia chose the path she did, either. I can understand wanting answers, but surely having seen how extreme The Community had become, she would have known better?

I didn't feel like the story reached a conclusion, and for that reason it left me wanting more. The writing was very enjoyable, and the first section was excellent, the rest just wasn't really for me. If you've read it and had different thoughts, I'd love to know!

CW: Suicide, Violence

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC via Netgalley. Sorry that I couldn't be more positive about this one!

When her mum decides to stop talking one day and goes to live in a tent in the garden, neither Emilia nor her dad have any idea about what is to follow. By the time of The Event, Rachel of Chalkham has grown into a world wide Community. But as the years pass, Emilia wants to reclaim her mother's memory and separate her from what The Community has become.

The Silence Project is an interesting story, with many moments that make you stop and think. The whole euthCare concept, for example, suddenly took the story to a whole new level.

My one criticism would be that at times it dragged along slightly, with little happening, but overall a thought provoking, entertaining read.

When Em's mother decides to live at the end of the garden in a tent and to not speak she thinks that this will pass; just a phase of her Mother. However, as news of her mothers silence becomes common knowledge no one can expect the tragic outcome.

This was a totally absorbing novel; Em's relationship with her Mother as well as 'The Community' were gripping. Although you know the tragic outcome at the beginning of the novel the working back in the timeline to before the event and afterwards was really gripping and I desperately wanted Em to gain the peace that she obviously needed. Overall, this was a gripping and interesting novel that was unputdownable.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited after I read the sample, and when I read the full book, I was even more excited! It definitely made me think, (without giving too much away), the subject of a cult isn’t very common to me, so I really wanted to know everything about this.

Some parts could need a bit more editing, but it’s an arc after all, so I wasn’t too bothered!

This one really intrigued me when I read the synopsis. I have a bit of a hit and miss relationship with Dystopian, and I have to say I was left feeling pretty disappointed with this.
Written as Emilias memoir - sometimes it felt more like a piece of research or a text book and I felt myself zoning out, and this is what let the book down for me, because I actually enjoyed the parts of the story where Emilia takes us back to her past. Then up pops another piece of research and it veers off into another territory.
I've always found cults pretty fascinating, especially how people get drawn into them, and I think this book really captures how they are formed, and at times it did feel pretty true.
Overall, I'd say this was a good read, I just didn't seem to get with the format and unfortunately at times would struggle to say I enjoyed it.

The Silence Project by Carole Hailey is a thought-provoking book about listening, legacy and feminism. Rachel Morris opts out of life on her daughter Emilia's 13th birthday, and moves into a tent at the bottom of the garden. What follows could be called a cult - The Community, especially as it culminates in her suicide by burning because she feels she can't make herself heard any other way. The book is written as if by Emilia, who is using her mother's diaries as inspiration. She explores the way her mother's legacy has been interpreted, and how it has shaped her life as the daughter of the founder of 'The Community'.
I enjoyed this book as it made me think - even several months after finishing it.
With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Weird! I’ve tried to read this several times but I just didn’t find it gripped me enough to read. Far fetched and hard to relate to