Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This book is very much in the vein of The Handmaid's Tale and The Power by looking at how women can be affected by political decisions and how what looks like a utopia can quickly become a dystopia. Hailey's writing style was a bit repetitive at times, and I think there could have been a bit more editing, but the overall narrative was strong and the central character of Emilia was sympathetic and relatable. Worth reading for anyone who's a fan of the dystopic feminist genre.

This book will stay with me for a very long time. I would reccomend for people to go into this book blindly as I did, it will have a much bigger impact on you. I definetly reccomend.

4.5⭐️

The Silence Project grabbed me, sucked me in and I raced through it, desperate to know what was going to happen next.

What a fascinating concept. Rachel Morris moves in to a tent at the bottom of her pub garden and never speaks again. Other women are drawn to her cause, and a community is born. One that seems to worship Rachel and her message. It sounded an awful lot like a cult to me. And when Rachel and thousands of her followers burn themselves on the pyres that they built themselves, the cult of The Community is truly born.

This book is written as a memoir by Rachel’s daughter, Emilia. Unsurprisingly, she misses her mother at the same time as resenting her. I thought this was really well done: Emilia loses her mother the day that she pitches her tent.

I think this would make such a good book club book - there’s so much to discuss. The concept of The Community, and the fact that it had clearly become something entirely different to Rachel’s original idea - whatever that really was. But due to her silence, Rachel was never fully able to say exactly what it was that she wanted for the future of her movement. I wondered whether her silence was rational; was she depressed? Her silence meant that others could put words into her mouth, surely?

Was Rachel selfish or selfless? Would we think differently if she had been a man? That’s very much left to the reader to decide. What really disappointed me though, is that a group of women, The Community, after Rachel’s death, becomes corrupted. They convince everyone that they know best and bring in some pretty outrageous policies: enforced contraception, euthanasia that’s geared towards making a profit for The Community. They have their fingers in many pies and many governments.

I’ve got to admit, this disappointed me a little. There was always the hope that women would be different - but it turns out that they’re the same as everyone else.

That said, this is a really hard-hitting book that gave me so much to think about - and I loved it.

On Emilia's thirteenth birthday her mother, Rachel, stopped talking. She took herself down the field beyond the pub garden where they lived, put up a tent & began her great silence. She wrote notes but didn't speak. This book is told by Emilia as she tells of how her mother's silence was the beginning of a great cult encouraging people to listen not speak, which, like many cults, resulted in awful things.

It took me a while to get into this one. I felt for Emilia & her father but felt nothing but dislike for Rachel & her monumental selfishness. In some ways what she was saying with her silence was valid. We do need to listen rather than waiting to get our reply across. However Rachel could never have continued her silent protest if she hadn't had her family to keep her fed, clothed etc until her followers took over she wouldn't have got very far!

This is a book that the mind will come back to when you are not expecting it. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this thought provoking book.

This is a terrific book; a great concept, well written, cleverly plotted and remarkably engaging.

To be honest, I'd put this aside on the TBR pile for a while. The blurbs of other books caught my attention more easily and I waited until running low on material to take on holiday before turning to The Silence Project. The idea of a "fact-fiction" book centring on a woman's project to make the world listen seemed a bit worthy to be honest, but the blurb undersold what transpired to be a cracking little novel.

Although it deals with some pretty weighty themes, The Silence Project never feels heavy or dull when you're reading. Hailey has a deft, light touch and combines serious questions facing our society with the reflections of a young women and her relationships with those around her. Fact and fiction are seamlessly combined to create a throughly satisfying book.

Hailey's next offering will go straight to the top of my to-be-read pile!

When Emilia's mother moves to the garden and never speaks again, her life changes forever. Ironically her silent voice is heard around the world and her following grows. When her mother kills herself Emilia needs closure. A very emotive story with a very unusual topic. I found it strange but interesting at the same time.

A really interesting idea that didn't really ever connect or snap in to place for me, I felt I wanted to know more often and rarely got answers. But still engaging, intriguing, and worth a try. I can see why people would love this book same as I can see why it wouldn't be for someone else.

“It has been eleven years since my mother’s death, but the questions never stop. Everyone remains just as fascinated by her as they have always been and believes this gives them the right to ask me anything. What was Rachel of Chalkham like when she was plain Rachel Morris?”

My thanks to Atlantic Books Corvus for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Silence Project’ by Carole Hailey.

This novel takes the form of a memoir written by a young woman named Emilia Morris, who is seeking to tell the story of her relationship with her activist mother, Rachel.

When Emilia turned thirteen her mother, Rachel, had moved into a tent at the bottom of their garden. From that day on, she never spoke another word. Inspired by Rachel’s vow of silence, other women join her and together they build the Community. Then eight years later, Rachel and thousands of her followers around the world burn themselves to death. Quite an opening!

In the aftermath of what becomes known as the Event, the Community continues to grow and quickly gains global influence. While the whole world seems to have an opinion about Rachel - Emilia has never voiced hers publicly. Until now. Her account of her mother’s life, titled The Silence Project includes extracts from Rachel’s detailed notebooks. Yet there are those within the Community who are unhappy with the memoir, especially as Emilia is about to reveal their sinister agenda that is using her mother’s name.

I found this quite an interesting read that explores the dangers of cults, especially those like the Community that become so powerful that they can dictate the narrative. I remained somewhat uncertain as to why Rachel undertook such an extreme form of protest and certainly felt empathy for Emilia and her father.

I would expect that ‘The Silence Project’ is a novel that will appeal to reading groups given the opportunity for discussion on various topics, including the Community’s more controversial programs.

wow wow wow- this had everything I love in a novel and more. I can’t get enough of reading mother/ daughter stories anyway – throw in a social commentary/ cult/ dystopian story and I am so there.

From the opening lines, where Rachel stands on top of her own funeral pyre and burns herself to death, the story pulls no punches and its not an easy comfort read by any means but it draws you in and keeps you engrossed.
Presented as a book within a book - Emilia finally telling her account of life with her mother - it feels so real, with its scattering of modern history references throughout. Ive seen plenty of reviewers say that they researched some elements of the story, sure that it must be non-fiction, and I can certainly see why, it is almost too real to be fiction.
It will stay with me for such a long time, I will be waiting for Carole's next story with great anticipation!

Every so often, a book comes along that makes me think, ‘What the hell did I just read?’ The Silence Project by Carole Hailey is one such book.

When I read the blurb, my brain immediately jumped to ‘feminist dystopian novel’, and I do love me some feminism and dystopia. But this book is so much more than that. By the end of a feminist dystopian novel, I hate men. By the end of this book, I hated everyone. (Not entirely out of the ordinary for me, to be fair…)

I’ll stop bandying about the f-word, as there really isn’t anything particularly feminist about this narrative – it’s more to do with how people need to shut the hell up and listen to each other. There are also strong themes of the general f*ckery committed by organisations with too much power.

If I told you this story was about a person who starts gently going against the establishment, (silently) preaching words of tolerance, love, and patience, gathering disciples to the cause, only to willingly sacrifice themselves and die for the sake of said cause, and then in years to come, the disciples get it completely wrong, get too much power and money and start committing heinous acts in the name of their original leader… I mean, you’d say, ‘I think I’ve seen this film before,’ right?

Maybe I’m reading too much into it. I’m pretty sure Rachel of Chalkham (the leader in this case) didn’t turn water into wine at any point.

Anyway.

I loved this book. I think. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I finished it several days ago, so that’s a sign that it’s powerful stuff. Highly recommend. If you enjoyed The Power by Naomi Alderman and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, you’ll love this book.

I was very excited to get a copy of this book to read (after reading a sample of it last year and I absolutely loved the first half of the book however I really struggled with the second half and found the almost academic style of writing in places jolted me from the main story.
The ideas and the plot though are fascinating and I know this book is going to be really popular and would make a great book club read as there is lots to talk about but for me the last chunk of it just didn't work ..

Another book that I didn't expected to like as much. Although it is a work of fiction I couldn't stop thinking that might as well be real. Especially the bit about Congo and the "community" plans to basically only help themselves. It as a slow read at times but overall I enjoyed. Definitely will keep an eye for future books by this author.

I loved this book so much. It was intriguing and kept me hooked. Whilst the premise of the book is not new, Carole Hailey makes it feel original, and that is what made me love it so much.

I was really intrigued by this book and I thought it started off well. Unfortunately, I did find it was starting to loose my attention by the halfway point and then I skimmed through the rest.

Before doing my own review, I did have a scan through other reviews and did see that it has lots of positive reviews so I think this one just was not for me.

Thank you to #NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Although the idea of this book seems pretty out there, it’s also so easy to see how something like this could happen.
I thought it was really cleverly written from the perspective of Rachel’s daughter, however it did leave me frustrated a few times as it raises questions that we cannot be given answers to.

I loved the premise of this - taking a vow of silence and becoming a guru in the subject, however the book dragged for me. Rachel is silent, she’s still silent, guess what? She’s still silent. It just didn’t work for me.

I wasn't expecting this book to be written in this way. It is structured like a non-fiction memoire and is a t times fairly academic in it's approach which I found unusual for a fictional story. Because of this choice I often found myself struggling to get through it as there is a fair amount of information I found unnecessary. I found I enjoyed the first half of this book than the second although having the story continue after the major event was interesting as it shows you how a message can take an unexpected turn depending on who is leading.

I thought it was an interesting concept but overall I struggled to get through this as it's not my preferred style of storytelling.

Gosh, what an intriguing and compelling read this has been. Written as a memoir, Emilia looks back on her life as a teenager and then recounts her life following the Event when her mother, Rachel of Chalkham and founder of the Silence Project, burns herself to death along with literally thousands of other women around the world. So many times I found myself entirely swept up by the events as the lines between reality and fiction blurred before me. So often I would find myself questioning whether or not things Emilia was recounting had actually happened. The whole premise behind Rachel’s initial silence was fascinating and really made you think about it means to properly listen and hear what someone is saying. However, post the Event Community it really did start to enter into a dystopian world even though many of the issues they are trying to address are so very relevant to reality. I think it’s a book that will make a great book club choice.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for a review.

I don’t know if it is because Hailey creates a truly unsettling blend of fact and fiction in this dystopia image of the present day, or if it’s the frequent references to these imagined events occurring in and around my (very real) hometown, but The Silence Project quite literally hits close to home.

I was hooked by the blurb and the first page and this was initially an engrossing read. At times it felt slow but I think Hailey meticulously creates an atmosphere that reflects how normalised the events are as slow-burning (sorry) and it’s an effective method of communicating this gradual shift that you can track in the expansion of the community over time. Hailey combines fictional events around real historical events to complicate our ability to clearly separate fact from fiction by providing a compelling alternative timeline in which the events of the novel have already happened and are peppered alongside existing tragedies.

I found that the pace of the novel faltered around half way through, perhaps with the reveal of the Event and Emilia’s decision to join the community. It became repetitive and I couldn’t understand the relevance of some plot points to the overarching story. I would also have liked to have seen more of a relationship between Emilia and her dad although I appreciate that this disconnect is because of their fractured relationship- and so not a criticism of the text at all, just a comment on how real the characters felt that I wanted more of them and their own relationship to the events of the novel.

The focus on climate change, right-wing ideologies on women’s autonomy, and women movements are timely topics in contemporary literature and I thought The Silence Project incorporates them in a really unique way. Overall, this was a deeply unsettling, original and well-structured read. Perfect for fans of Atwood and Alderman.

Thank you so much for this arc, an interesting and thought provoking read! I will be looking out for more by this author