The Silence Project is based on an intriguing and original premise. It explores numerous themes about the nature of bonds and relationships, cults, common voice, loss and much more. It’s very well written and I was immediately drawn into this strange and somewhat surreal tale which become more and more intriguing with every page. It’s multilayered and there’s plenty of thought provoking content; an ideal book club choice which is bound to draw out numerous different views.

It’s dystopian, but real in a strange way and as well as being escapist fiction, it’s relevant. I really enjoyed this and heartily recommend it to anyone looking for something a little different, but with substance.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

I was intrigued by the blurb. I'm not sure it's what I was expecting, I did feel like I had to keep pushing on as I did want to know what happened.
Emilia is writing a memoir of her mother's life, on Emilia's 13th birthday, her mother Rachel, moves into a tent at the bottom of the garden and stops talking. Gradually The Community starts to grow as more women join Rachel.
It was interesting, the way the novel has been written, it is fiction however the author does say that it is based on some facts.
Thank you netgally for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I'm afraid to say too much about this book, as I strongly believe it's one that has to be entirely discovered by the reader with minimal knowledge beforehand. That said, this book was compelling and enthralling. It was such an interesting commentary on sacrifice and the dangers of cult-like tendencies. It tackled the true trolley problem in a new and interesting way. The narrator's dedication to remaining unbiased, along with her intense honesty and unfiltered storytelling made me feel like I was reading about a real, flawed, but deeply human, character.

This book is a must read. I rarely feel the want to write essays about books after finishing them, but this is one I could analyse and talk about forever. I have a strong feeling it will be spoken about for years to come.

An advance warning that this book contains a few heavily graphic and disturbing scenes and readers should proceed with caution.

(4.5 stars rounded up)

I had high hopes for The Silence Project with its original premises but unfortunately I found that the storyline dragged, and lost its way and I found myself skim reading to the end. I think I’m in in the minority with this one as there are glowing reviews so it could have been my mood or I happened to pick this book up at the wrong time.

Wow... this book was not what I was expecting. But in a really good way. It also features one of my favourite birds - the Lilac-Breasted Roller - a bird I look forward to spotting when I make one of my many visits to Birdworld. Only in passing and nothing to do with the story but it excited me nonetheless!
So... Emilia Morris lives with her mum and step-dad in a pub. On her 13th birthday, mum Rachel moves into a tent at the bottom of the garden. She also stops talking, communicating only by written word. She says people need to listen more and to do that, they need to shut up. Word gets round and, inspired by her, other women join her and soon their numbers swell and the Community is born.
Things escalate and, well, there's an Event. The book (and story) is split between things before and after the Event. We follow Emilia as she is setting to publish her mother's story, her memoir, drawn from her notebooks, a story that some would prefer to stay hidden. Is she about to expose the Community...? And what will some do to keep such things secret?
This was an interesting book. It flitted about in time a bit and also quoted from Rachel's notebooks. In the before we see the Community from a distance through Emilia's eyes and also Rachel's notebooks. In the after we see Emilia's first had knowledge of the Community and how things play out there. Honestly, it isn't as disjointed as I am describing and it all flows nicely...
The one thing I did struggle with was the way that Rachel just upped and left her family. Her teenage (just) daughter. At exactly the time that girls need their mothers. I don't understand fully her motivation. Yes her message is valid. We all need to listen more. But a but extreme. And then, the Event. Not sure about that at all.. But then I am not an expert in cults - and it it a bit cult-ish in nature.
But I guess it will serve its purpose - to get people thinking. It will also get people talking too... contrary to the point of the book - It will definitely be a cracking book club read. Loads to discuss. Again, not the message delivered. Contradictory...hmm...
All in all, a decent enough read, just lacking that certain something that could have made it great. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I was intrigued by the blurb and was hooked by the first few chapters but I felt that as the book progressed there was too much repetition and not great character development. Emilia was irritating and her mother was downright bonkers. The best character for me was the long suffering husband and dad. The idea of a global community of likeminded women all prepared to give up everything and remain silent so the world would listen is an interesting concept but the reader has to suspend logic and common sense to believe that world domination could occur, particularly in such a short space of time. I felt the author was a little self indulgent in the Congo part of the book and the ending lacked tension or drama.

The disturbing premise for this story sounded really compelling. However, the pace just didn’t live up to the blurb and I found it quite repetitive. I found instead of caring more about the characters, I cared less, got halfway through and stopped. Disappointing.

This had such an incredible first chapter but unfortunately the tension did not remain for me. I found that the book felt more like a collection of essays than a full narrative and this made me struggle to engage with the story.

So this was a really bizarre book. I just did not every truly understand what it was trying to be. I felt like it was a missed opportunity - the premise was really interesting, but for me it just didn't deliver. Although the book is written in the style of a memoir, it manages to have no emotion in it at all, and occasionally the voice lapses and it sounds more like someone talking to you about a memoir they're reading. I felt detached from all the characters, and the ending lacked bite. This is a really dry read, which whilst well written, just didn't engage me at all. I was expecting a great twist at the end, and it just didn't deliver.

A gripping read that I had difficulty putting down. In some ways the start was slow but it was setting the scene for everything that followed. All the characters were so well developed and it was so easy to relate to Emilia and all the traumas that she went through, before and after the Event. The whole premise of the 3 aims of the Community resonate so well inn todays world and made a very frightening premise.
This is the first book by Carole Hailey that has been published and I cannot wait to read more by this very talented author. Throughout the book there are many references to real situations and events which added to the reality of the story. The many references to the notebooks added an unexpected twist and made this novel seem factual and not fiction.
I loved the book and hope that it gets an award this year.

— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: The Silence Project
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Carole Hailey
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Dystopian
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 9th February 2023
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 4/5

TW: suicide (this is a very strong theme throughout the book), PTSD, senicide

”We don’t hear each other. To hear you must listen. To listen you must be silent. Everyone is shouting. No one is listening. People are angry, but no one is listening. People are scared, but no one is hearing. We believe our voice must be heard above all others, but all voices deserve to be heard. When no one hears, no one cares. When no one cares, no one matters. Stop shouting. Listen. Hear.”

This was an incredibly unique book. Rachel decided on her daughters’ thirteenth birthday, she will commit herself to silence and live as unencumbered a life as possible, choosing the bottom of the garden as her peaceful escape. I absolutely love the premise, and the fact that the author chose the daughter of Rachel to narrate the story and explore a relationship that is incredibly difficult to the one that the rest of the world eventually has with Rachel.

Whilst the perspective is told from the daughter, Emelia’s, point of view, it’s not the emotional and tender story I thought it might be. Instead, the format is really interesting. Due to Emelia writing a book about her mother—yes, this is one of those Inception phenomenons where a book is being written inside a book—the writing leans more toward academic than anecdotal.

So, whilst the writing is fascinating, it doesn’t hold my attention for very long. Due to the academic nature of the book, the writing becomes slightly detached from what has occurred, or is occurring, and whilst truth bombs are dropped here and there that made me pause for a moment, I wish it was written with more depth to the mother-daughter relationship and what it is like living under the umbrella of the Community.

I also felt like the pacing could be quicker. It felt like the story was being drip fed, with only subtle hints as to what has happened. The plot is quite slow and the writing is not very direct, even if it breaks that third wall and speaks to the reader now and then.

However, it explores interesting themes such as mental health, population control via forceful contraception and senicide, suicide and PTSD.

Overall, this is a book that makes you really want to embrace silence and simply hear yourself, and eventually others, even for a moment.

🧚🏻‍♀️

Emilia Morris spends the morning celebrating her 13th birthday.
Later that afternoon Emilia watches her mother erecting a tent, by the river at the bottom of their garden. Emilia wonders whether her mother is planning a camping surprise for her.

I found the book to have interesting aspects in places, but I felt continually drawn back into what seemed like partly story and partly a lecture with invented facts, references and email links.
I could not fully engage with this book.
It was just not my type of book unfortunately, but may suit others.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for an advanced e-book copy. Opinions of this book are entirely my own.

I was completely intrigued by The Silence Project and totally unsure what to expect. It’s a complete fictional memoir but from the start you find yourself totally immersed in it and have to keep reminding yourself it isn’t real. Some great characters such as Emilia who I feel you got a real sense of and could sympathise with. A great thought provoking debut novel. Thank you to NetGalley, Atlantic Books and the author for the chance to review.

This is such a hard read to describe without saying too much about the story I myself hadn’t read any reviews of the book so went into the book purely on the fact that I saw the words cult and dystopian and for me that was enough to request it. Well what to say I was completely blown away by how amazing it was and most of the time it felt more like I was reading a true story rather than a work of fiction and for me that’s what made this such an incredible reading experience. The story is told by Emilia Morris who writes the the story of her mother Rachel who takes a vow of silence and from that starts to get a following of like minded women all of which leads to a horrific conclusion called The Event, I’m not going to say more as I really think it’s better to go into the read with an open mind as to what is happening.
The writing of the story is perfection it feels so real and I had a hard time trying to convince myself not to look up some of the references and people as I kept thinking this was true and had actually happened ….that I know sound crazy but believe me that is exactly how this book got to me … hell yes it was superbly clever !!
So I loved the book it was nothing like I was expecting and far far better many thanks to Carole Hailey you blew my mind !
My thanks also to NetGalley and Atlantic Books, Corvus for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I very much enjoyed this book, in fact I have just re-read it prior to writing the review.

Briefly, Emilia Morris is writing a book about her mother Rachel, who committed suicide as part of a world-wide protest. Rachel is the founder of the Community, a cult which at first appears to have peaceful, beneficial aims. Since Rachel’s death the Community has become an extremely powerful presence, and the reader begins to question just how beneficial these aims are.

Reading this made me think about the effect a dominant personality can have on the people around them. Rachel is one of those people, and her aims have far-reaching consequences for her daughter, her husband and countless others around the world.

In the second half of the book, the action moves to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and I found this section particularly enjoyable.

If you like female centred, dystopian fiction, like Margaret “Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale”, or Christina Dalcher’s “Vox” or “Q”, I highly recommend this novel.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atlantic Books for the proof.

This is one of the most unusual books I have read in a while. I didn't know what to expect from the title and I am loath to lessen any of the surprise of this novel, so will avoid spoilers. Suffice to say this is the story of a troubled young girl in search of a mother whose behaviour threatens to dominate her life. The characters are credible, if not very likeable in some cases, and contribute to a sense of the events as historical fact, along with contemporary references and a believable narrative. It certainly made me think, long after finishing the book, of the wider ramifications of the project. An intriguing read.

It took me awhile to get into this book. It has a promising plot, is easy to read and full of tension and suspense. The novel is well written, it’s honest and raw with a blend of fact and fiction and very likeable characters.
Thanks to #NetGallery #AtlanticBooks for an arc of #TheSilenceProject in exchange for an honest review.

This book has an intriguing premise, and it found it pretty readable. However, for me the logic of the silence project itself didn’t really work, in that they didn’t ever seem to get close to what they set out to do, and that rather spoiled a good idea.

The Silence project can only be described as a dystopian story telling of a woman writing a book based on her mothers “legacy”. The book has A-LOT of trigger warnings and can be quite horrifying in parts so please be warned.

This book was a fab piece of work. I find dystopian novels involving women quite traumatic to read as being a woman myself, I can place myself in that situation and it’s just awful to think about. I don’t want to spoil this book too much as it’s out next year and I think it’s one that you should keep an open mind for. I would have finished this a lot sooner if I wasn’t away. Brilliant read.

A really unusual, innovative book about how easily well-meaning idealism can turn into fanaticism over time, and what it means to listen and truly hear people. It’s written as if it’s a memoir, with references and various sources, which makes it all the more powerful. The scariest thing is that it’s something that could easily become reality. A great read.