Reviewed by: Ceil Carey, Co-president of ECLA and long time book discussion leader

Introduction

Title: Song of silence

Author: Cynthia Ruchte

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Publication Date: 2016

Format: Paperback

Length: 314 pages

OVERVIEW

Cynthia Ruchti is one of my favorite authors, her books always seems to have a rather unusual plot and this one is no different. It is a heavy story with heavy themes, in fact at one point I thought about praying for Lucy, the main character. That demonstrates how connected I felt. The writing is beautiful with believable characters.

Lucy has held the position of the head of music in her school district for many ears, actually taking over her father’s work when he died.  When she is riffed (reduction in force) and the program closed, her life as she knew it and as she anticipated it continuing, is totally changed and Lucy really doesn’t know what do with herself. It doesn’t help that Charlie, her retired husband, wants to spend every waking moment with her. Yes, she loves him but this is not how she wants to live her life. When their adult daughter comes home to live with them for a while, that doesn’t seem like such a bad thing. Olivia is a delight and seems to understand the dynamics between her mom and dad. Then their son, out of the blue, announces his upcoming wedding (the coming weekend) to a beautiful young deaf woman with a severely autistic son and they, too, need a temporary place to stay. Change after change after change!

But a misstep one sunny afternoon changes Lucy’s life forever, particularly physically but also in every other way. She has literally lost her song – can she regain it?

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5)

5

Suggested Audience

Adult fiction lovers

Christian Impact

When God shuts a door, he always opens another can be a simplistic way to look at change. What happens when a drastic change happens in the life of a Christian? How do we go on when our future takes a totally different turn than anticipated?

Additional notes

Contains discussion questions

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