This was a mess of a book full of unlikeable characters and confusing plotlines.
The story is told through two viewpoints. Henry, recently widowed through childbirth and struggling to find his place in the world, accepts a job offer in Telverton from the mysterious Sir Edward. There he finds a town crippled by the strange effects of the silk weaving factory and falls under a strange enchantment. Sophie's story is told through the pages of a diary, detailing her travels with her husband and their time on Kratos where they discover the spiders at the centre of this tenuous web.
The two stories never really come together and Sophie's tale, after a promising start, becomes an overblown gothic affair that is never properly resolved.
Henry is the most spineless, vacillating character. He developes an improbable passion for his new employer, Sir Edward, and despite abundant evidence to the contrary, continues to believe he is a decent man misled by others.
Most of the other characters, have no real depth, and Sir Edward's motivations remain a complete mystery.
The central idea of the spider's Silk has real promise but it doesn't really get properly explored. I wanted to know more about the sacred aspects of their worship on the island and why the local women welcomed Sophie into their rituals.
And the most unbelievable aspect of the whole book? Nobody seems to have any hint of arachnophobia!! Everyone happily handles the spiders and no one seems worried at all about them getting out. If I lived in Telverton the funny noise issues would be the least of my concerns!!
I wasn't sure what this book was trying to say other than some vague themes about relationships and parenthood, and the ending was improbably neat. All in all a very disappointing read.
Thanks to Harper Collins UK and Netgalley for the ARC.

The Binding and The Betrayals by Bridget Collins were excellent novels.

The Silence Factory is another winner.

This is the story of Henry- recently widowed and tormented by memories, sleepless nights and the sounds around him during the early hours; that is until he is given a piece of silk cloth woven from the thread of a spider- it diminishes all sound and seems to lull him into a different state of mind.

Henry is an audiologist and works with hearing implements to alleviate the isolation of deafness. When he's invited to visit the home of Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy -who is the supposed creator of this magical sound-eliminating silk- he feels drawn to the man- to help his hearing-impaired daughter Philomel and soon to assist him promoting the magical silk

But so begins Henry's troubles as he is pulled into the world of Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy and the town of Telverton where local children who work at the factory are becoming deaf and a madness prevails among the workers; this insanity and deep enchantment soon begins to emerge within Henry as his only desire is to please and be with Sir Henry- an insanity

In his desire to be accepted and blind infatuation Henry wants to ignore the story behind the spiders, the provenance of the silk , Sir Edward's avarice and the damage to the local area. The story is interspersed with diary excerpts from Sir Edward's ancestors who first visited the Greek island home of the spider, learned of their magical strengths, encountered tragedy yet still stole the creatures for personal gain.

Henry's infatuations soon finds himself in a life or death situation.

Although there is a sense of the gothic about the novel- similar to Bridget Collins previous novels- the dark somewhat mystical, menacing and surreal nature of the tale and the magical influences of the silk and the spiders, there is also another element.

The story takes on something deeper - an analogy linked to modern life; the rituals and customs of societies whose belief in nature and its power are undermined versus the desire of man and science to control what he cannot explain; the evolution and magical/unexplained characteristics of the natural world versus man's intervention to want to control and adapt nature( GM) in the name of a better society or greater common good but ultimately aligned greed.

Personally, this is Bridget Collins best book so far- if you have a fear of spiders be warned .But ultimately, this is a story of infatuation and man's predatory nature to control and manipulate without concern. The desire to succeed above common sense. A great read.

Thank you to Net Galley for the advance copy

Very nice writing, very imaginative and unique, and it definitely managed to build quite the atmosphere. Personally, I found the story very slow, quite boring, and just not enough to hold my attention. The book felt very long because barely anything was happening. The ending however wrapped up super quickly and after all that build up I just wanted more.

A massive thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for giving me an arc of one of my most anticipated releases this year— It certainly did not disappoint! I love Collins’ style of writing, have done since The Binding, and am so impressed by how she managed to make me both hate and love Henry within a few chapters. I found myself interested in both storylines, which is oftentimes rare when there are different point of views. The plot twists were devastating, I really felt for Sophia, and the conclusion of the novel was satisfying yet I crave more of Henry and what he does!

📚 Book Review 📚

After reading The Binding at the end of last year, I was keen to read this.

The language and writing is typical Bridget Collins, with distinct gothic overtones, great description, wonderful imagery and the thread of fantasy and magic woven throughout the pages.

The book has two timelines and two pov; Sophia who travels to Greece with her husband James and Henry, a recently widowed young man who lives with his father in law.

Both lives are intertwined through the years by magical spiders, whose silken webs can create a void of sound. But nothing is as it seems for either character and the path each takes.

Both characters take a journey of self discovery against the backdrop of Greece and Telverton; a dark town with a large factory owned by the descent of Sophia. A factory which is renowned for making magical cloth whilst the workers live in illness and torment.

Whilst the descriptions are stunning, the characters become more and more unappealing as the story goes on. This I think, is a deliberate plan but I found about 75% in, that I wanted the story to end quicker. I started to loose my interest in what happens to them.

Overall though, this is an intense, well written gothic story with historical and magical hues. Although, I felt less affinity to the characters than I hoped, I still enjoyed reading this book and Bridget Collins writing is still beautiful and mysterious.

I’d like to thank Harper Collins UK, NetGalley and the author for the arc and the fantastic opportunity, in exchange for my honest feedback 😊

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read halfway dnf. Found that I was drifting through the sentences which I didn't find enough to hold my attention was waiting for something to happen. I think the idea is excellent and the book cover fantastic. I just didn't love the writing.

Thank you Netgalley, Harper Collins UK, & Harper Fiction for the opportunity to read this title.

The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins is a gothic mysterious tale set in the Victorian era. We follow our main protagonist Henry, a recent widower who works alongside his father in law in London, within a small shop offering a range of hearing aids. One afternoon a wealthy businessman named Sir Edward enquired about their services for his deaf daughter, & naturally, when making conversation with Henry he explained the nature of his business and offered him an intriguing sample of seemingly magical Silk.

The Silk had the power to silence Henry’s hounding traumatic thoughts and offer him solace, being able to sleep.

Throughout the book Henry begins to work alongside Sir Edward, helping him to flourish his business and spread the word of the magical properties the Silk has.

However, not is all as it seems; when we flash back to Sir Henry’s Great Aunts journal entries, she details the origins of the Silk, and the effects it has on her personal and marital life.

The Silence Factory was a very intriguing read that was thoroughly well written, and I did enjoy the ending, however I feel that some parts of the story were not concluded properly - Sophia’s life, ‘pregnancy’, her relationship with Hira, being regarded to as a Maggot (what did she mean by this?). Did the Silk seem to have some erotic persuasion upon the same sexes or was it merely coincidence that both Sophia and Henry both seemed to have fell in love, and with the same sex - I couldn’t quite understand?

3.5 Stars. K.

I enjoyed The Binding and hoped this would be as compelling a read, and it absolutely was! The world she’s created is so vivid and the idea of the silencing silk was dark and strange and brilliant.

The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins is her third book and the third I've had the pleasure of reading. I absolutely adore her prose and the way in which the words flow and the story captures me from the very first line. She weaves a magical effect and as a reader I am transported deep into the world of the characters she creates. The Silence Factory was no different and the world created felt so real. I loved how easily it captured me, the rhythmic storytelling and the emotional depth explored.

The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins is her third book and the third I've had the pleasure of reading. I absolutely adore her prose and the way in which the words flow and the story captures me from the very first line. She has a magical effect on me as a reader transporting me into the world of the characters. The Silence Factory was no different and the world created felt so real. I loved how easily it captured me, the rhythmic storytelling and the emotional depth explored.

The story has a gothic feel to it and Henry Latimer the main character is widow who works as an aurist with his father-in-law in London. When he meets Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy who comes seeking help for his daughter, Henry is thrust into a new world in the town of Telverton and the strange mystery of the silk spiders. Throughout the story we get diary entries from Sophia Ashmore from the 1820's when she travelled to the Greek Islands with her husband James in search of some remarkable discovery he has heard of. These diary entries tell Sophia's story and her struggles and are an integral part of bridging the past and the present in which Henry finds himself in.

Collins's writing with its vivid imagery pulls the reader deep into this new world, building tension and creeping horror that will have you turning the pages late into the night to see how the mystery unfolds. The Telverton factory where the silk is woven is an eerie place with a noise that deafens the children forced to work inside and pulls Henry's own horrors to the surface. There is building tension throughout culminating in an ending that is very satisfying and also very poignant.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this latest novel from Bridget Collins and know that I will never hesitate to pick up one of her books. Her name is synonymous with a superb read that I know will stay with me long after the story is finished. A true story-teller that has proven her talents and excels with every novel released.

Bridget Collins is back with another spellbinding story of intrigue and mystery. The Silence Factory is a curious tale, full of magic and wonder but told through a lens of power struggles, corruption and dark deeds in almost a twisted fairytale style but without the charming prince to save the day. The storytelling was stunning — it takes a minute to find the flow as the narration gives itself an “old fashioned” feel to match the time period, but it’s poetic, highly descriptive and mesmerizingly hypnotic once you get into it.

But personally I just couldn’t get into it — I think the pacing was just a little off and it kept me from fully finding the flow of the story.

A strange but absorbing book.
A biologist takes some spiders from a Greek island once he discovers that their silk can provide silence. Years later a relation seeks to mass produce the silk and sell it for a fortune.
However why are there unfortunate accidents at the factory and what is the real secret of the spiders web. Is its properties a use for good or greed.
I struggled initially through the first chapters but became more engrossed as the story unfolded.

Henry is a sad man recently widowed when his wife and daughter died in childbirth. In his job as an aurist he is sent to see if he can help the daughter of a wealthy businessman to hear. Sir Edward wants to make his fortune making special silk which has the power to produce silence. He asks Henry to help with the marketing and Henry falls under his spell, but the more he learns about the man and his business the more it emerges that there are dark secrets in the family.. A leather bound diary, which Henry finds in the library , written by one of Sir Edwards ancestors tells thew story of how the silk was discovered on a Greek Island. Reminiscent of Wilkie Collins this is a rattling good tale.

This book was not quite what I expected, especially after reading and enjoying Bridget’s novel The Binding. Although the plot was very different - weaving silk from snails I found it a long and difficult read. I kept waiting for I don’t know what, but something else to happen. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read and give an honest review. Sorry, but I know others will probably enjoy it.

🕸️📖🕷️

The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins
has been my most anticipated read in a long time - The Binding is one of my top five all time books and The Betrayals was also sublime - I recommend both all the time! I’m so delighted to say that The Silence Factory did NOT disappoint and was all that I hoped it would be ✨

Speculative historical fiction is my favourite genre, and The Silence Factory takes us to an alternating timeline between generations where a discovery has the potential to change the world in an incredibly peculiar way. 🕸️

This is gothic mastery, and sinister in so many ways; industry and ambition reveal entanglements and exploitation, and characters become embroiled in dangerous and seductive webs of lies, truths and desires. 🕷️

This is a story of extreme contrasts; peace and conflict, calm and turbulence, love and hate, and the two sides of the silk. ✨

This is a perfect and captivating novel to lose yourself in, truly unique and perfectly twisty, shocking and dark, and with an impending sense of doom throughout - the climax is turbulent with lots I didn’t see coming. Plus the final scene is perfect 👌
Many thanks for this arc, thoughts are my own.

When I read The Binding in 2018 I knew right away that Bridget Collins would become an automatic-read author for me. So when I saw The Silence Factory on NetGalley for review, it was an instant request.

Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy has invented silk made from spiders' webs that insulates perfectly from sound. He hires aurist and aspiring poet Henry Latimer to cure his daughter's deafness and use his talent for words to promote the silk. Henry becomes infatuated with Sir Edward until he finds out the true power or the silk.

The book tells the story of Henry and also the Ashmores, Sophie and James, as they discover the silk on a Greek island.

Much like Henry's descent into Sir Edward's world, I read this slowly at first and then fell into it head first. I was swept along as the pace increased and I finished half of it in one sitting. I was with Henry all the way, enamoured also by Sir Edward and blind to his true intentions. I felt like a frog in a pot of hot water, gradually getting hotter and hotter until I've been boiled alive without even realising.

The production of the silk was a very loud process, with the noise being so deafening it drove some people mad. Collins did an excellent job of conveying the level of noise and I can imagine an audiobook would be interesting especially if you included the noise. For me, I can't wait to see how nice the hardback will be.

The Silence Factory is sumptuous, dark, and every bit as magical as The Binding. I could believe these two books live in the same world and I can't wait to see what Collins imbues with dark magic next.

This review will be published on clearlyreads on 29th March.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the Arc of this book!
My rating of this book should not take away from how phenomenal the writing is. The imagery this book created made it feel like I was watching a movie.
2 different time lines through following Henry - an audiologist who wants to make a name for himself and forget his past - and the diary entries of Sophia - the wife of James who started it all. This book follows both their stories in relation the making of silk from spiders found on a Greek island and how it changes people for better or worse.
The character description had me feeling love and hatred for these characters. It uncovers the consequences of the silk on the town of Telverton and its residents.
Personally this book isn’t one I would read again, however it would be a book I would recommend.

This atmospheric and disquieting novel consists of two interlinked story threads, set in different parts of the 19th century. One is told through the journals of Sophia, who has accompanied her abusive, manipulative husband to a remote Greek island in search of a spider whose webs are supposed to have mystical properties. Decades later, the main narrative is from the perspective of Henry Latimer, an unhappy widower who gets a chance to escape his life in London after a chance meeting with Sir Edward, a wealth silk manufacturer. He quickly becomes obsessed with the man as well as the opportunity to improve his lot in life.

The Telverton Silk is no ordinary fabric - made from the webs of the mythical Greek spiders, one side completely blocks all sound, whilst the other creates strange 'echoes'. Henry sees huge potential in the product and finds he has a gift for salesmanship. But others are not convinced by either the silk or the man who owns it. The factory has a history of horrible accidents, the 'echoes' from the silk cause sicknesses and long term damage in the residents, and Edward is a capricious, unpredictable character. It's clear to the reader that things are not likely to end well, but it's an intriguing journey getting there.

The story is well written, creating a sense of strong unease without resorting to flowery language. It's very readable and Henry is a likeable character. I thought his refusal to see the very obvious warning signs - not to mention heed explicit warnings - would become annoying, but I didn't find it like that because it was a human, believable behaviour. Most of us know what it's like to be in the grip of a passion - whether for a person, a cause or something else - and how in that state it's possible to ignore anything that doesn't suit us. Henry wavers from time to time, but his desperation to gain a better life - particularly given his vulnerability (lonely, still grieving his wife and child) - wins out. It's not rational behaviour, but it is how I can believe a man in Henry's situation could behave.

The concept of the silk is a clever one and even has a bit of pseudoscience behind it to explain the properties. Collins puts across very well its strangeness - how it is both lovely and terrible. She is a vivid writer and I can clearly see all the settings and characters when I think about the book. It's well paced - despite not having much 'action' as such it is always absorbing and never feels slow. It didn't turn out the way I expected it to either, which is a refreshing treat for someone who reads a lot. I admired the choices she made for her characters and for not sticking to a formula.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys historical fantasy or stories with a supernatural element - fans of Laura Purcell and Sarah Waters are likely to enjoy it. It's the best of Collins' books so far (I've read three) and I'm intrigued to see what her next one is about.

This was immense! A richly gothic and hanging tale that weaves (pun intended) the threads of a spellbinding tale, beautifully written! I loved it!

Another brilliant concept from Bridget Collins and so well-executed! I loved the two timelines with Sophia discovering the spiders in the past and Henry attempting to use the silk to build Sir Edward's fortune in the central timeline. The parallels between Sophia and her husband and Henry and Sir Edward and the negative impact of the spiders on their relationship was very clever, and the exploration of Henry and Sir Edward's romantic connection was so thoughtful and considered.

On a Greek island in the 1820s, Sophia is trying to cope with her married life. Her husband, James, is obsessed with finding a particular spider, which supposedly spins silk that has unusual properties. When Sophia accidentally finds a specimen, neither of them realize that James' obsession will trap him in its web just as securely as the spider webs trap the rats and 'suck them dry' when they're dropped into the tanks as food. James leaves the island with as many spiders as he can carry and goes back to England. He thinks that as a British Christian man, he is smarter than everyone else and entitled to take what he wants.

Some decades later, Henry Latimer, a grieving widower, is plodding through his days as a clerk in his father-in-law's audiology shop. One day, Sir Edward shows up and engages Henry in conversation. He comments that Henry sells sound and he sells silence. Henry is clearly puzzled, so Sir Edward gives him a piece of spider silk with special properties. When one side is facing, utter silence results. The outer facing side creates weird murmurs, whispers, and disturbing noises. Sir Edward has inherited his great uncle James' estate and the family lace factory, which he is using to try to mass market the silk. Henry becomes obsessed with the silk after bringing it home and using it to block out the cacophony outside. He gets his first good night of sleep since his wife died in childbirth. When Sir Edward wants someone to come to his home to test his deaf daughter, Henry goes. He, too, gets tangled up in the web of silk and refuses to heed the warnings of people who try to help him. He desperately wants to outrun the whispers, murmurs, and disturbing noises in his own mind, but of course, none of us can do that. While he sees a chance at a new life as his feelings for Sir Edward grow deeper, he also has to work hard to ignore the horrific effects of the factory on the town and especially the people, including the children, who work there.

This is the first book I've read by this author, but it definitely won't be the last. It's a fantastic book that hooked me from the start. The book moves back and forth between Sophia's diary entries and Henry's story, with the former sprinkled throughout the book. I was gripped by both storylines as the characters struggle to escape the bonds that imprison them, whether it is James with his ego and need to impress his brother, leading to the fixation on the spiders, Sir Edward with his sense of entitlement and need to wield power and get more cash, Sophia, who is stuck in a marriage with a man growing more angry and erratic, or Henry, who is trying to outrun his grief and guilt. The spiders provide a good metaphor for this theme as they weave their webs, entrapping and destroying prey much larger than themselves. Will they also (indirectly) destroy the humans who have stolen them from their native habitat in order to exploit them? At one point, Sophia comments that she knows the spiders are furious at them. The difference between the rats dropped into the spider tanks and the humans outside of it, of course, is choice. The rats have none. The spiders have none. The humans have choices, but will they make the right ones in time? What will become of the people involved, from those in charge to those working in the factory and at the mercy of the people and machines that make the factory run? What happened to Sophia and James? Read this excellent book to find out!