Reverend of Silence - Pamela Sparkman

Author: Pamela Sparkman

Genre: Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction

Rating: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: An outstanding story but needed some fine-tuning in the writing. For an indie work, this is amazing.

Story:

Connecticut, 1814. Eight year old Samuel Burke is the son of a pastor who is new to town. On his first day of school, he encounters a strange girl who only stares at him and doesn’t seem to be in sync with the rest of the class. He soon discovers that her name is Lucy, and she lost her hearing at the age of three after a bout of fever. Samuel decides to take his father’s sermons to heart and takes up the challenge of teaching Lucy to read and write. Happily joining him in this new journey is Lucy’s protective elder brother Noah, who becomes Samuel’s best friend.

As the children grow, Samuel and Lucy realise that there a lot more to their feelings than just friendship. Their budding relationship is put on pause as she is sent to the first American school for the deaf and dumb, The American Asylum at Hartford for the Deaf and Dumb. During this time, there’s a change in circumstances and a resulting role-reversal of sorts. Will the two youngsters be able to overcome the challenge and will their relationship survive the test of fate?

The story is divided into time-based sections, beginning with 1814 and then jumping to 1819, 1824 and finally 1834. It comes to us in the first person perspectives mainly of Samuel and sometimes of Lucy and Noah.

The characters are so well-penned that you are never in doubt of the rationale behind their behaviour. Lucy especially will win your heart with her guts and gumption. Her role is not the typical simpering female of most historical fiction works but that of a girl who tries hard to overcome her physical shortcoming. Even the secondary characters, barring the clichéd villain, will leave their marks.

The book offers amazing detail in how the deaf and dumb were treated in that time period. Every bit related to this is a pleasure to read. The author’s note states how which of the characters were actual people from history. I liked knowing this background as it greatly added to my satisfaction with the book.

As the title suggests, this is Christian fiction. So it’s mostly clean (unless you count kisses as adult content. There is a couple indulging once in premarital sex but there are no lustful details mentioned.) There are many Biblical verses and references in the content which suit the requirement of the story as one of the key characters is a pastor. I didn’t understand the significance of the title at first and was going to remark against it in my review. But the ending explains its reference and then it made sense. I still don't think it's the best title for this book but it's certainly better than I had thought.

There are many sweet and emotional moments in the narrative. The epilogue felt superfluous at first but soon its presence and length is justified. So if you are looking for something simple and yet that will touch your heart, this will certainly work for you. In fact, in term of emotional appeal, character growth, and plot development, the book gets full marks.

Where it falls short is in its writing. The 1814 section was my absolute favourite. The way the author develops Samuel’s and Lucy’s relationship through her words is so touching that you’ll root for them right from this start. At the same time, certain parts of it felt quite precocious. When Samuel talks of his first encounter with Lucy, his thoughts were not exactly that of an eight year old. And I don't just mean his words about being attracted by Lucy's eyes and smile or having his heart broken on the very first day. His observations on Noah's elder sisters being almost like women of marriageable age or that Noah's mother looked tired and her hair too came out of its pins... would an eight year old boy of that era be so highly observant? I’m not sure but it sounded odd. To connect better to the narrative, I just assumed Samuel and Lucy to be 4 years older than what they were. Then the experience became more realistic and enjoyable.

Furthermore, the individual character voices are written quite similar to each other. Having age references in every section would have helped. The years were mentioned at the start of a new section but it was easy to lose track of them, especially in the audiobook. There are certain anachronisms as well. For instance, would a person of that era remark, “Message Received”?

The audiobook clocks at a little more than 11 hours and is narrated by Steven Ritz- Barr. He does a decent job but I’m not sure if he is a beginner in this field. There are some mistakes he makes while reading which he then goes on to rectify. (Mine wasn’t an ARC so I didn’t expect such mistakes.) The voice variations of the narrator weren’t enough to make Lucy sound like a young woman. In fact, the narrator sounded exactly the same while voicing Samuel and Noah, which became quite confusing at times. Additionally, I feel like the audio version would have worked better if Lucy had a separate narrator, especially as her pov is also in first person. One thing I especially liked about the audiobook was Ritz-Barr’s musical interludes between scene changes and chapters. That was so helpful!

Overall, what I loved most about this book was its powerful story that embodies the three Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love. It is a beautiful tale of the coming-of-age of two young persons who get bogged down but not defeated by tough circumstances. With well-developed characters, a touching plotline and an accurate historical insight, the book overcomes most of the writing flaws and delivers an impactful experience.

I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook from Audiobooks.com at my request and these are my honest thoughts about it.