Welcome to The Quiet- a peek into a strange and darkly ominous world, part Orwellian but also, in some small way, strangely hopeful, as Science and Nature battle a fantastical oddity, with humanity’s future lying in the balance.

Dr Hannah Newnham/Williams, our first person POV narrator, is a scientist and a mother (perhaps more truly identified by reversing the order). Hannah’s narration is at times puzzling and opaque, illuminating in fits and starts, as pieces are filled in with a pace that tantalizes the reader. Without giving too much away, (no spoilers here), Hannah’s back-story, and how it relates to an explanation of the world she now lives in, slowly and unevenly unfolds.

Throughout it all, Hannah’s relationship with her son Isaac (in the present), six years old and particularly vulnerable, remains touching and authentic. Hannah and Isaac’s guileless bond is this readers favorite aspect of the novel, — in a world that is otherwise bleak and dystopian, it would be hard not to be warmed and nourished by Isaac’s achingly focused world view, and the easy love and tenderness shared with Hannah.

An interesting, ambitious read, with a fascinating and original premise, (just sciencey enough in the manner of the best speculative fiction) — I enjoyed this book and found it hard to put down.

A great big thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts provided are my own.

** four and a half shiny stars