The Silence Diaries

by Jennifer Kavanagh

Suzie and Orbs are in their thirties and have been together for a couple of years. Orbs reluctantly makes a living in the City and Suzie is a respected financial journalist, but each has another life hidden from the outside world... Their secret existence is threatened first when Suzie is offered a highly visible job, and then by an accident that turns their lives upside down. This is their struggle to survive as partners.

176 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2019

About the author

Jennifer Kavanagh is a former literary agent, who spent nearly 30 years in publishing. She now sets up micro-credit programmes, mainly in Africa, and is a facilitator for the conflict resolution programme, Alternatives to Violence project. Jennifer lives in London, England. She is a Quaker, an associate tutor at the Quaker study centre, Woodbrooke, and she writes and speaks regularly on the Spirit-led life.
She is the author of twelve books of non-fiction and three novels, the third of which, "And this shall be my dancing day", comes out in July 2023.

Reviews

[Louise Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suzie and Orbs have been together for a couple of years. Suzie is a financial journalist while Orbs reluctantly makes a living in the city. But they both have another life hidden from the outside world. Orbs plays the fool with fellow impromptu performers. He usually works in London or he travels to fairs. Suzie has a ventriloquist dummy. But then she has an accident on the hand that she used to prop up the ventriloquist doll. She then looses her voice, she's dumb struck.

This is a really quick read. I read it this afternoon. Often I've seen puppet shows, ventriloquist etc, and most of the time their stories have an underlying message. This book is o different. Suzie and Orbs both keep their other lives secret from their families. They both hide who they really are behind the characters that they play. They can be whoever's they want to be and no one will know. I liked everything about this story. It's the first book that I have read by the author but it wont be my last.

I would like to thank NetGalley, John Hunt Publishing Ltd and the author Jennifer Kavanagh for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Jennifer Kavanagh, and Roundfire Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my personal opinion of this work.

I found the novel 'The Silence Diaries' heavy weather to get through. The protagonists are a Fool, a ventriloquist and a man who hears voices. Their common denominator is sound - one chooses to communicate without sound, one by throwing sound to an inanimate object, one by responding to sounds heard only by himself. The fact that their relationships are difficult to maintain is not all that surprising, and they do persevere - or at any rate, they lack forward motion into making choices and thus their relationships hold firm. I was disappointed in this work.
pub date November 1, 2019
Roundfire Books
REviewed Nov 5, 2019, at Goodreads, Netgalley, Amazon, Barnes & Noble.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was first attracted to this book because of the title and it certainly fits the story well! Suzie and Orbs are not the traditional couple; he is a professional Fool with crazy costumes who performs in silence. She is a ventriloquist with a "pet" fox named Bruce who perform on television. But when a freak accident silences her for a time, both Suzie and Orb must come to terms with what they can't verbalize in their own relationship. Add to the mix Freddie, Orbs' brother who hears voices but loves Suzie's fox, and you have the makings of a tender story of compassion and insight. The writing is subtle but lovely; we see two people who are very different yet who come together and are there to support one another when the other needs them the most. It's certainly a non-traditional story but is one that will touch your heart and perhaps give you a fresh perspective on what it means to love and be loved!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book isn't out until October/November, but 100 copies have been published in time for British Yearly Meeting (an annual Quaker event) and I was lucky enough to pick up one from the Quaker bookshop in Euston. However while Jennifer is a Quaker and the story will resonate with Quakers, the Silence Diaries aren't actually about Quakerism (overtly at least anyway).

For me, this book is about understanding who you are, recognising that who you are is not the necessarily same as who you tell people you are, and how we can never really know the inner life of someone else. It is also about finding your purpose and accepting that purpose can change or be multiple things.

I always enjoy Jennifer's writing (I've read her first novel, the Emancipation of B, and several of her non-fiction work). They're always the type of books that I'd like to write one day.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Susie Taverner is a highly respected financial journalist, and Aubrey De’Ath Grimsby-Grenville (otherwise known as Orbs) reluctantly makes a living by working part-time in the City; both are in their thirties and have lived together for a couple of years. However, each has another life which they keep secret from the outside world: as Belinda, Susie is a ventriloquist, with a fox puppet called Bruce and together they present a popular show called Bruce and Belinda’s Question Time. By using Bruce to ask all the acerbic, probing questions, whilst she intervenes more gently and sweetly, Belinda ensures that Bruce plays “bad cop” to her “good cop”, thus protecting herself from any resulting opprobrium.
In his secret life Orbs is Cyril, a fool: not a “sinister clown” hiding goodness knows what behind a white face, but a true Fool, traditionally a trusted, truth-telling character, one who appears in most cultures, ready to shine a light on the “stupidities and falseness of the age”. Some fools speak but Cyril doesn’t, although he occasionally does makes noises or sing. However, Orbs tends to avoid using this pseudonym because he regards his fool character not as being separate but as being the essential, best part of himself; he finds that being silent intensifies all his other senses, making him feel more authentic. Through his impromptu performances, either alone or with fellow performers, in London or when he travels the country to perform at fairs, he loves having the opportunity to introduce some spontaneous fun into people’s lives, to brighten their day and to put them in touch with their capacity for “fooling around”.
Susie and Orbs have found ways of accommodating and absorbing their alter-egos into their everyday relationship, although as the popularity of Bruce and Belinda’s Question Time increases, Orbs begins to feel that Bruce is becoming an ever-present extension of Susie, stifling direct communication and threatening the balance of their relationship. Then, when Susie has an accident which prevents her working as a ventriloquist and the shock of it causes her to lose her voice, their lives are turned upside down and, if they are to survive as a couple, they must find new ways to interact with each other.
This is a beautifully written novella which explores how a crisis, or any disturbance in the balance of a relationship, forces people to confront and examine their inner fears and to find alternative ways to communicate effectively with each other. Both Susie and Orbs had been experiencing fears about being “exposed” before Susie’s accident but through their “performing” selves had managed their anxieties, sometimes in a successfully functional way, but increasingly in ways which were dysfunctional, both for them as individuals and for their relationship, so each of them needs to make adjustments. Susie has to learn to communicate other than through the voice of Bruce and, with Susie being unable to continue to provide the financial stability they’d both relied on, Orbs needs to adopt a less dilettante attitude towards his work in the City. With commendable psychological insights the author draws the reader into the couple’s struggles as they try to discover how to be more honest with themselves, and how to become more open in the ways they communicate with each other. In order to do this each must be willing to both own and share their vulnerabilities, without the need for using their “performing” selves to speak for them. Although there were moments when their search for such authenticity in their relationship felt very painful and challenging, their desire to achieve it never felt in doubt.
Another important character in the development of the story is Freddie, Orb’s elder brother whose schizophrenia means that, since childhood he has heard voices in his head. At one point in the story, when Orbs reflects on how this affected him and his parents in the past, and how he came to feel so marginalised that he left home at the earliest opportunity, he comments “voices have played too great a part in my life”. This offered an insight into why silence had perhaps come to play such an important part in his life and why he felt so fearful when Susie was about to meet Freddie for the first time. However, what they all discovered was that Bruce could offer a positive conduit for communication and I appreciated this demonstration that using a different “voice” doesn’t always have to have negative connotations but that, ultimately, what is important is finding ways to bring different aspects of our inner selves together to achieve an authentic wholeness.
With beautiful language Jennifer Kavanagh has created a gentle, but very powerful, story about how, with honesty, tolerance, respect, tenderness and love, people who are very different can support one another within a relationship. This is a tender but thought-provoking love story, one which demonstrates that nothing in life or relationships is static, that the balance of need can change and that each of us has the capacity to respond in an authentic and caring way. But, before we can be truly honest with others, we need to be honest with ourselves. I think that this wise story would offer book groups some rich themes for discussion.

[The Starry Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

'The Silence Diaries' is a story about finding the courage to listen to your inner voice and the vulnerability that it will require. Silence is used as a way of removing all that is untrue and inauthentic leaving only what is. The exploration of this idea was presented through two main characters each with their own struggles to be who they are. Both characters in the story were living double lives- Suze who worked as a ventriloquist and financial reporter and Orbs a banker who also worked as a Fool on the side. Suze and Orbs were both engulfed by the noise of expectation and fear. They both had hidden lives away from their family and friends that both caused them a lot of worry. What if someone found out what they really did? They both struggled with finding purpose and meaning in their lives that took the form of secret professions. For Suze, she was able to express a silly side of herself through her puppet that she could never do as a financial journalist. Orbs on the other hand could express himself best as a mute Fool, through performance action.

Throughout the story we see these two characters finding themselves when the noise of all that they should be or want to do begins to take over their lives. Suze and Orbs both have to confront their most vulnerable selves when their puppet and fooling cease to have a presence in their lives. It was only then, that the real communication of the heart began to have the loudest voice.

We all tend to give ourselves labels and fragment our lives into separate little pieces but bringing those seemingly different parts of ourselves together is where the truth of who we are is found. It is a stillness and peace that quiets the world around us. It will look and sound completely different than we could ever have imagined.

I found a great quote that really captures the essence of this book:

“Within each of us, there is a silence, a silence as vast as the universe. And when we experience that silence, we remember who we are…” — Gunilla Norris

[Lynda Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many people, thanks to Stephen King and possibly certain prominent personages leading the stage right now, may be afraid of clowns. Yet the discipline comes from a noble pedigree: the court jester bring able to say what others may not for fear of losing their heads. The naive infant who is the only one who can safely say the Emperor is wearing no clothes.
The main character, Orbs, is not a clown, but a Fool. With fellow impromptu performers, he puts on his act in London, or travels to fairs outside the city to practice his act.
His girlfriend Suzie, sometimes known as Belinda, has an excellent job as a political journalist, but is persuaded to use her ventriloquist act to to review politicians. Her sharp and cynical alter ego fox is quick to put her interviewees in the spot, quickly gaining an appreciative audience. All whilst keeping her true identity as a journalist secret.
Then she has an accident - on the hand which she used for her ventriloquist prop. All of a sudden, she loses the power to speak. It seems her prop, propped more up than just her professional audiences.
The story underscores the way most of us hide behind fictions, make-believe versions of ourselves - and how it might be possible to move beyond that. At other times, a tool such as a puppet may be therapeutic. Meanwhile, Orbs is confronted with the act he also keeps up, to family, to day job, as Suzie struggles to find a more inclusive voice. Then there is Orb's brother, who hears voices, and whether or not Orb's and Suzie can possibly have a future together.
Overall, this an idiosyncratic take on dysfunction and healing, as well as being quite an entertaining novel in its way.

[Stephen Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read and finished this book twice and it's taken a while to compose this review. It's elegantly written, and covers the strains on a young couple's marriage - periods when unwanted silences fall and where talk, voice, and communication become important. One partner is a satirical ventriloquist using an abrasive puppet personality, arguably the best character in the book. The other follows the spiritual practice of walking labyrinths and being a Fool, a sort of spiritual jester. It's a quiet book with much movement under the surface - an unusual book which perhaps feels like walking the labyrinth yourself. It did not captivate me, which is very much a personal reaction - there are times when I think it tiptoes around dramatic possibilities, but then it is not a book I am writing. I have reread it, which is a rare honour these days, and it will reward your attention.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting premise - based around the secret lives we hide from others. I enjoyed following along with the characters as they navigated their public (and private) lives. Each narrative is based around voice...or lack of it. This isn't a light-hearted story by any means, and tackles some important issues. Three people, three different lives, all tied together by their relationships with each other. An interesting take on the idea of silence and sound, and who we show to the world vs who we really are.

[Erin Dale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to #netgalley and round fire books for letting me read and review The Silence Diaries by Jennifer Kavanagh. Although I feel that this book was well written, I just don’t think it was for me. I didn’t feel incredibly invested in the characters or what the outcome was to their lives. I guess it was just different than I thought it would be.

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley, Jennifer Kavanagh, and Roundfire Books for the advance copy of this
Sadly this was not for me and I did not finish it.
I found it tough going and gave up.

[Dawn Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Silence Diaries by Jennifer Kavanagh
Book Review by Dawn Thomas

176 Pages
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing Ltd / Roundfire Books
Release Date: November 1, 2019

Fiction, Relationships, Mental Health

Orbs and Suzie are entertainers living in London. Orbs is a professional Fool but works at a bank. Suzie is a ventriloquist with her fox puppet Bruce and has a day job as a financial journalist. When Suzie has an accident, their lives are turned upside down. She loses her voice and confidence. Orbs does what he can to keep the house going and making sure Suzie is cared for. They have to work together to overcome their circumstances if they are going to be able to move forward.

I actually read this book twice. The discussion of mental health needs to become more mainstream and the stigmatism of it removed. I applaud the author for addressing the issue. This book is written in the first person and in the presence tense. It is a short book and a quick read.