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Easy Silence [Hardcover]

Angela Huth (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 2001
The Handles have one of those quiet, suburban marriages that has ticked along for decades without anything very momentous happening. William, a distinguished violinist and leader of the Elmtree Quartet, and Grace, a modest watercolorist, enjoy a serene domestic routine where easy silence, an acceptance of each other's ways, is the norm. The two spend each day in their respective corners of the house-William upstairs practicing, and Grace downstairs working on her latest wildflower illustration-and they even take careful steps to prevent a chance encounter. For what do people who've been married that long say when they meet on the stairs? But just as quickly as their routine emerged, it is yanked away by the winds of change.

When the long-serving viola player resigns from William's quartet, the Elmtree hires Bonnie, a brilliant young player with perfect dimples and an ample bosom. In no time, William is smitten. Meanwhile, Grace's days have become enlivened by visits from Lucien, a troubled young man who lives down the street with the mother he loathes. Though his presence unnerves her, he provides her days with a bittersweet frisson, and before long Grace is captivated. As William and Grace secretly find their hearts tugged in opposite directions, the once cozy couple moves closer to confrontation. But with the introduction of sudden menace, the story takes a darker turn-until real-life horror explodes and a murderous twists sends their world spinning.

From the acclaimed author of Land Girls and Wives of the Fisherman comes an elegant, if shocking, dissection of a middle-class marriage. In Easy Silence, Huth combines remarkable insight with biting wit to create a delicious black comedy.


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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Suddenly William was able to contemplate the fact quite calmly: he would have to murder his wife." At the start of this unusual portrait of a British marriage, middle-aged William Handle is far from entertaining such wicked thoughts. For years, he has been happily married to Grace. Husband and wife each have their own satisfying occupations--William is the principal violinist of the Elmtree Quartet, and Grace is a painter--and they live comfortably in a suburb west of London. But then a new viola player--the attractive Bonnie Morse--joins William's previously all-male quartet, and William loses his head. Meanwhile, Grace is getting more and more caught up in the life of the Handles' unbalanced but charismatic young neighbor, Lucien, who visits in the mornings and rants about his domineering mother. As William's plans to rid himself of his wife progress, farce shifts into black comedy. But after a split that includes Lucien's betrayal, Grace and William reunite with a simplicity that belies the homicidal frisson previously in the air. Huth (Land Girls) shows how human destiny is shaped amid the tinkling of teacups, in this very British tale. Although Grace and William are not entirely rounded characters, they are engaging as something more than symbols of middle-class married malaise. Easy to read, but brittle around the edges, the novel gives a cool account of thwarted passion.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

William Handle, a violinist with a prominent string quartet, and his wife, Grace, an accomplished artist of botanical books for children, have the kind of comfortable, easy relationship that comes with a long, happy marriage. Then the disturbed but engaging young Lucien comes into Grace's life and into William's comes Bonnie, the quartet's new viola player. Grace is both attracted and repulsed by Lucien's mood swings and his strange insinuation into her routine (he pops in daily for tea), while William is besotted by Bonnie's youth and attention. He resolves to murder his "dear Grace" so that he and Bonnie can play duets forever. Fortunately, William's attempts at murder are bungled, and his efforts to woo the fair Bonnie are mistaken for musical camaraderie. He recognizes the folly of his fantasy just in time. Not only is Grace spared death, but she is also mercifully absent when Lucien goes over the edge. Huth (Land Girls) has a marvelously deft hand at character portrayal and skillfully sustains the reader's sympathy for the human condition. Light reading to be sure, but carefully crafted and thoroughly entertaining. Recommended. Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (March 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312268122
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312268121
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,866,708 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Average Customer Review
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A long-time marriage runs into a crisis..., March 20, 2001
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This review is from: Easy Silence (Hardcover)
First off, I admit I'm a fan of Angela Huth's books and I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one. I wasn't dissappointed. This is a sometimes comic, sometimes poignant glimpse at the life of a couple, William and Grace, whose marriage has gotten a bit too routine. And then a lovely young musician enters the picture, a musician who happens to be joining William's music quartet,taking the place of a viola player who has resigned. William is entranced by her. Meanwhile Grace herself is not sitting alone, bereft and rejected. Although she's unaware of her husband's passions for another woman, Grace is also feeling drawn to another man. If you think this story is going to move along in predictable ways, think again - there's another horror around the corner, one this couple can't anticipate. I hope I've perked your interest in this book - I'd love to think another reader has discovered the joys of this author's writing.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, March 26, 2008
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This review is from: Easy Silence (Hardcover)
I have loved the other Angela Huth's novels, Wives of the Fisherman, and Land Girls, and was disappointed with the gravity of this one. Am a compulsive "finisher," but had to prod myself along and found it wanting in content. She always writes beautifully about relationships but this, for me, just wasn't a very engaging story. Sorry.
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