Silent People: Hearing The Call of The Dodder
Yvonne Jerrold
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Buy NowWhy I wrote this book
Silent People: Hearing the Call of the Dodder grew out of the first novel I wrote, called Being Mad Myself: Reflections of a Silent Woman, which describes the inner life of a secretive woman who is tormented by voices; voices that say she is mad, or has lost her memory, or is only pretending. She feels trapped and desperate, an imposter locked into a world where she does not belong, and her one desire is to escape into a secret world of plants which she dimly remembers from her childhood.
After writing it, images of her hidden world stayed with me, and I felt compelled to write about this fragile place whose inhabitants, the dodder people, protect it with their silence, hence: Silent People: Hearing the Call of the Dodder.
Synopsis
Silent People is about the silent people who wander among us looking lost, as if they don't quite belong, but don't know how to leave; who 'struggle all their lives to fit into a world... that feels entirely alien to them, if not downright hostile'. Hebe, who works as a student counsellor, is haunted my memories of Silas, the 'wild dodder boy' who befriended her when she was a child in Dodder's Well. She lost touch with him after a disastrous flood but she still watches the river in the hope of seeing him again. Now, returning to her childhood haunts, she finds his hidden world is under threat. Her story wanders the borders of fact and fantasy, of science and art, of sanity and madness, as she catches glimpses of the magic that draws the silent people back to their ancient roots.
This novel is about keeping secrets, and seeing things that others cannot see, and about the gulf that exists between people who interpret the same facts in very different ways.
Reviews
Judie Newman, Fellow of the English Association: "A haunting tale that echoes in the mind long after the book has been put down."
Dr Terri Apter, psychologist: ". .a novel that celebrates the abiding power of imagination. Like any richly imagined story, Silent People has wide ranging allusions, and following them imaginatively is one of the special pleasures offered by this book...." (read the whole review on www.yvonnejerrold.com)
Blackwell Online review - Jane Wilson-Howarth: "This is a beautifully written and unique book - thought-provoking and an intriguing read."
Dr. Daiga Kamerade - Latvia: "I read this book and it is amazing! It is so original. The story, about a hidden race living close to nature who want to protect their world, is so special. I haven't read anything like it before. It kept me on my toes all the time I was reading it... It is also about introverts - people who do not need the hassle of modernity, the externalities, to be happy - and how such people are so often misunderstood and unappreciated by our very externalised modern world..."
(read the whole review on www.yvonnejerrold.com)
About the Author
My novels tend to focus on the inner lives of their characters - those hidden parts of their minds which even their nearest and dearest are unaware of - and on the dilemmas of people who feel they are trying to live in two different worlds at once.
I am intrigued by questions about how people see themselves. In this fast-changing world, what gives us our sense of belonging, or not belonging, to any place or group or culture?
I was born in Washington DC, educated in Dublin and Cambridge and now live in Cambridgeshire where I am planting a small woodland. You can see its progress on my website www.yvonnejerrold.com
Book info
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Genres
Format
Trade Paperback
237 pages pages
Author
Yvonne Jerrold
Publisher
Matador
Publication date
3rd April 2006
Author's Website
ISBN
9781905237524
