What can I say about A Sign Of Her Own ? It was so beautifully written, Ellen portrayed with sensitivity, emotion and a real understanding of the deaf world. It was an example of an author, also deaf, who could articulate in the most natural and brilliant way the world in which she herself resided and magically turn into an outstanding novel.

Ellen was young impressionable, her mother, grandmother desperate for her to integrate into the hearing world, be seen as normal. What Ellen wanted, needed or even what may have been best for her was never considered. Packed off to boarding school, then sent to Boston to be taught by the famous Alexander Graham Bell the master of vision speech.

Marsh showed a young girl on the brink of womanhood entranced by this man, a man lost in his inventions, his own world. Snippets of his latest discoveries were fed to Ellen made her feel important, part of his world. It was only when Marsh introduced Ellen to Frances that her mind broadened, she began to question Bells methods and the sense of an impending clash loomed.

We don’t know instantly what that would be as Marsh pushed forward in time to London, Ellen is engaged to Harmon, her mother dead, but then a letter, a clandestine meeting, a re-acquaintance with Bell. A seamless switching between Boston then and London now, smattering of industrial espionage, the patent of the newly invented telephone at stake. More importantly Marsh made Ellen question not only herself, but others. Who were they, and particularly Bell to tell her and other deaf individuals how to communicate in order to fully integrate with main society. One final showdown filled with bravery, an important statement for the deaf community and an Ellen comfortable in her own self, confident, and decisive ready to live the rest of her life as she wanted.

You will fall in love with Ellen, you will dislike Bell, you will delight in the wonderful narrative and leave with a fascinating insight into the world of a deaf person and its community.

Congratulations Sarah Marsh an absolute triumph.

Ellen Lark lost her hearing when she was just 4years old.
Many years later she becomes a student of Alexander Bell, but is he all that he seems? Did he turn his back on the deaf community to work on the telephone instead.
There were some great moments in this book. I enjoyed the insights into the deaf community and their many ways to communicate but I found it very slow too and didn't live up to it's storyline

The premise of this book, with the scientist Alexander Graham Bell (famed for inventing the telephone) working with a young girl to develop Visible Speech for the deaf community was fascinating but the way the story was told read slightly confusing with different timelines and so many characters. I felt that if this could have been edited further there was a great story just under the surface.

From an historical point of view this book has a lot going for it, but sadly the premise was let down by the execution and after a while I found myself skim reading it as it failed to engage me. It tells of the relationship between a young deaf girl, Ellen Lark, and the inventor Alexander Graham Bell. I was interested to learn that not only did he invent the telephone but was also concerned in something called Visible Speech (this is never satisfactorily explained) and the focus is on Ellen’s travails with learning to communicate at a time when sign language was not widely accepted. The issue of deafness and the way deaf people were once perceived is well handled, and the social commentary about the deaf world is fascinating. The prejudices of the time, and still to some extent of our time, are sympathetically portrayed. But the actual story line does not flow. It jumps about in time and place and is sometimes so opaque it’s difficult to follow it. The dual timeline doesn’t help. A shame, because this could have been a much better book, as there is a lot to learn here, but it was too long-winded and although the author shows great insight, she didn’t keep a tight enough control of her material.

I found this to be a lovely book!

I found it a slow burn at times but the characters are lovely and I enjoyed how the author mixed real life people amongst the story.

I also liked how the main character is deaf as I do feel there aren't many books out there that shows remembers of the deaf community.

A great book

A piece of historical fiction highlighting the relationship between a young deaf girl Ellen Lark and the esteemed scientist, inventor and engineer Alexander Graham Bell and his place in history. Acting as her tutor in a style of learning called Visible Speech she falls under his spell. Desperate to produce a device to relay the human voice over a wired contraption, the telephone as we know it, and with others hot on his back to gain the patent, he uses her friendship to promote himself. I found it interesting learning how she dealt with her deafness in her early life and how she overcame these challenges as my grandmother was also deaf.

The subject has obviously been well researched by the author not least as she herself is deaf. Just seemed a little long winded and I lost interest in the story despite it being a period of history I was unfamiliar with.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review

I had high hopes for this book, especially as I have a hearing loss myself.
The double time line with lots of characters did not involve me, especially the secretive letters Ellen was receiving at the beginning of the story.
I did feel I should persevere with the novel but felt it to be too much of a struggle.
Thank you NetGalley, Sarah and Headline for this ARC

Hmm, not a book that bowled me over. I persevered, partly because that’s what I do but also because I was interested in the depictions of systems developed to enable people with hearing loss to communicate with hearing folk, and the tensions and problems along the way. Not exactly an absorbing read though.

everyone should know sign language! It's a well written book, inspired and informative. Recommended read.

I really enjoyed this read for many reasons, it was an extremely well written read, a story & part of history I knew very little about. The characters were wonderful and it was a truly inspiring thought-provoking read.

Thank you for allowing me to review this. I found it very moving. I have a relative who lost her hearing as a baby, and attended a school for the hearing impaired. I have also taught children with heating impairment, so was aware of the difficulties encountered whilst lip reading.
Ellen's story told over 2 timelines is compelling, although it is also very heavy going at times. This meant that at times I felt like giving up with the book. She is very likeable and has an interesting background story. I'm not sure that the other characters were do interesting, particularly the men. It wasn't very easy to understand where they stood in the story.
I was unaware of Alexander Bell's work with the deaf, and that at the time hearing impaired people were expected to learn to dpeak and lip read. Sign language is such an important skill for communication with each other and those of us with normal hearing.

I really enjoyed this book! Ellen was a really likeable character and though I am hearing myself I live with a disability so I could appreciate her struggle to find her place in a world not designed for her.

I honestly hadn't thought about how difficult it must have been for deaf people before the invention of hearing aids and implants, so I am grateful to this book for educating me, and also raising awareness of the stigma and isolation still felt by many deaf people. The details about children prevented from learning sign language or separated from their families were heartbreaking.

I enjoyed the dual timeline aspect of this book although at points I struggled to keep track of all the characters. The intrigue around the invention of the telephone and Bell's work (albeit misguided) with the deaf were also new information for me, so this book was informative as well as entertaining. Altogether a great novel drawing many different threads and issues together.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An enjoyable read, albeit a little slow in places. Shame that children are not taught sign language in schools.

Many moons ago, I studied linguistics at university and my favourite parts were learning about speech production and decoding the graphical representation of speech, so when I read the blurb for this book I was really drawn to it. I knew all about Bell’s work with the telephone, however I wasn’t aware of his work with the deaf community.
The novel follows Ellen Lark, who becomes deaf as a result of contracting scarlet fever at age four. Ellen learns to communicate with her sister using a system of signs that they develop between themselves and by writing. In those days signing was very much frowned upon by the hearing / speaking community and when an opportunity arises for Ellen to study with the famous Professor Bell, inventor of visible speech, Ellen is enrolled in his classes. The story moves between two time frames, Ellen as a young woman and then the story of her growing up to the present day in the book. Running through the book is something of a mystery about something that happened in the past to affect Ellen’s relationship with Bell and a growing romance.
I found it fascinating to see how much emphasis was placed on speech for deaf people despite them not being able to hear their own voices and so having to rely heavily on lip reading. Ellen’s understanding and awareness of homphenes was also incredible. All in all an interesting read.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Headline, Tinder for an arc in exchange for a review.

I really enjoyed the social commentary of this novel. The Deaf protagonist's journey in finding their place in a hearing world (while navigating the consequences of societal perception and pressures placed upon them) was illuminating, thought provoking, and gripping.

However, I found the pacing of other elements of the story challenging and found this reduced my enjoyment & interest in the story.

This is an interesting historical novel based on the work of Alexander Graham Bell and the development of Visible Speech, told though the story of one of his pupils, Ellen Lark. Alongside his teaching, there is a take of deception and skulduggery about the invention of the telephone.
I enjoyed this book but found the changing timelines a bit confusing. I’m going to assume that my ARC, provided by Net Galley, doesn’t have the markers which would make this easier to understand in a finished copy.
What I think the book does really well, is to explore what it is to be deaf in a hearing world. The sense of having to try really hard to understand everything which is happening, and the debates about sign language, finger spelling and lip reading, as well as developing sounds of speech, are really thought-provoking. I found myself wondering how much things have really changed. I wasn’t as excited by the rival telephones - but think that’s on me, rather than on the author. A good read.

A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh

“Peach. Its shape floats on Mr Bell’s mouth. The pinch of the p, followed by a rounded push of the lips, sending the last syllable hard across the tongue. My hand nearly reaches for my pocket, as if the feather from our lessons might still be found there. It’s been a long time since I thought of the feather. I would balance it on my knuckles and make it quiver with the puff of my ps. Puh-puh-puh. I stop myself just in time, folding my hands against my skirts.”

I found the opening scene of this novel incredibly moving and so skilful at placing us so close to our heroine that we understood the barriers she faced being deaf. In it, Ellen and her fiancé receive an unexpected visit from Alexander Graham Bell. As the two men converse, Ellen is picking up body language and tone of voice which indicate a serious topic but she notices a repeated word ‘peaches’. Her attention moves to the beautiful jar of peaches preserved by her mother on the dining table.

As Ellen reminisces, so do I. I was propelled back to the early years of my nephew Charlie, who was born visually impaired. Before we knew the full implications of his sight loss, we’d noticed he was behind in his development. He wasn’t moving round much, had put on weight and wasn’t speaking. It then occurred to us. In order to learn something for the first time, we tend to copy it. If you can’t see, you can’t imitate others and just as Ellen is struggling to get the full meaning of the conversation, Charlie couldn’t form words if he didn’t know how to use his mouth to make the noises. So Mum used the same technique she’d used with us when we were small. When a specific noise was needed like the ‘puh’ sound in the book, Mum would raise his hand to her mouth and make the sound against his fingers. He would then put his fingers to his own mouth a copy her. It was lovely to relive that memory and feel perhaps a tiny bit of what Ellen is feeling too.


A Sign of Her Own is narrated by Ellen Lark across two timelines and it’s an incredible feeling to be in her world, because it’s so different from the world we know. It felt similar to when actress Rose Ayling-Ellis did Strictly in 2021 and with Giovanni Pernice they performed a ‘Couple’s Choice’ dance, choreographed to bring the audience into Rose’s world. At a point in the dance, the music stopped but the couple continued to dance and we realised that this was Rose’s world. She couldn’t hear the music, but somehow used her trust in Giovanni to read his body, alongside counting, to perfect her dance routines. It was moving, disorienting and a complete revelation so it was no surprise to me that they were winners of that year’s BAFTA for a memorable TV moment. Ellen’s inner world is a revelation and the author writes it so beautifully. She lost her hearing as a child during a bout of scarlet fever and communicated with her mother using a language of signs they made up as they went along. It broke my heart to read how the sound of her speech was viewed by local children. Restricted to vowel sounds, because she couldn’t hear the precision of the consonants, Ellen feels shame about how she sounds. Her personal sign language seems to suit her, but it’s her grandmother who comes up with the idea of using Alexander Graham Bell’s ‘Visible Speech’. Students of his method were banned from using any sort of sign language, but were allowed to use a notebook. Family politics played their part in the decision, because the family were in debt to their grandmother. Luckily Ellen enjoyed studying and proved to be incredibly clever, even if she was unsure about Bell’s method and his motives. She has to be perceptive and learns to read people very quickly, including Bell. As we move into the present day, Ellen and her fiancé are visited by Bell who is embroiled in a fight to be recognised as the sole inventor of the telephone. He wants Ellen’s support as a character witness, but Ellen doesn’t have good memories of her time under his tutelage. She feels like he betrayed her and other deaf students for his own fame and recognition. How can she support him when she feels so conflicted?

During the later timeline Bell’s fight becomes all consuming. He is full of determination and I felt torn about his character because on one hand he appears to be paying attention to a group of people rather alienated by the rest of society. His work could be seen as altruistic, but it’s as if the people he’s helping don’t really matter to him. There’s a narcissism or selfishness in his character that means he only sees his students in terms of how they can help him potentially find fame. I felt
like he didn’t appreciate their characters or individuality. I found myself disliking him intensely. By contrast, Ellen is instantly likeable and intelligent. Through her we are invited into the deaf community and the debate over sign language and visible speech is fascinating. As someone who has studied disability theory, I was very aware that some deaf people don’t consider deafness a disability. If they sign, they simply see themselves as speakers of a different language. I was interested in the politics and ethics of a speaking world imposing a method of communication on the deaf community, rather than letting the community come to society with their choice of language or speech method. I think there are many readers who might never have considered these issues and wondered how the book is being received in the deaf and/or disabled community. I understood why the author wanted to bring these issues to the fore and loved the enthusiasm she clearly has about her subject. I was impressed by this well researched debut, clearly inspired and informed by her own experiences of deafness as a child. It puts the reader into the centre of those experiences and I came away feeling like I had a renewed awareness of sensory disability. 


Will appear on my blog tomorrow as part of the Squad POD Collective

This is a really interesting story, concerning the deaf community, the evolution and acceptance of sign language, and the part that Alexander Graham Bell played in this alongside his work with the telephone.

Ellen is deaf, and studies the spoken word with Alexander Graham Bell. She is torn between 'visible speech' - learning how to pronounce the written word, and communicating through sign language, which is regarded detrimentally by society.

Bell requires Ellen to assist him with promoting his new telephone; her fiance (a fairly unpleasant character) is invested in the commercial possibilities.

This is a story of communication in all its guises - the telephone and other technological advances, the ways in which deaf communication has evolved and become accepted, and fundamentally the communication between individuals within the story. The characters are interesting and believable, and all in I really enjoyed this book.

I really enjoyed this unique read. Ellen who is deaf, feels silenced and isolated as Alexander Bell is about to launch the telephone. A brilliant read that follows Ellen’s quest to be heard.

On the cusp of marriage, Ellen Lark and her fiancé are approached by Alexander Graham Bell, who wants Ellen, a former student, to support his patent for a certain implement called the telephone. Ellen, who is deaf, participated in a technique called Visible Speech, has vivid memories of working with Bell. Will anyone want to listen to her story? This is a clever, beautifully written read.