The Other Side of Silence [Hardcover]

Margaret Mahy (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

Hero, a girl who does not speak, begins to do odd-jobs for her enigmatic neighbor, Miss Credence, whose house holds a shocking secret, at the same time that Hero's sister returns home with an abandoned boy and another secret.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Twelve-year-old Hero has chosen to talk to no one except (on occasion) her older brother, and yet, she notes, "even in the heart of my silence, I was still a word child." And, indeed, the reflective Hero?who returns again and again to stories she has read?uses words to wondrous effect as she slips in and out of both her "real life" ("the life I lived with my family") and her "true life" ("the early-morning life, which I lived before anyone else was up and about"). Articulate and filled with intriguing imagery, her first-person narrative proves that, though she may remain silent, Hero absorbs and creatively decodes all that she hears and observes. Mahy's (The Haunting; Underrunners) inventive plot involves two women who are hiding something: Hero's older sister, who returns after many years with an adolescent boy in tow; and an eccentric neighbor who hires Hero to work in her garden. In different ways, their secrets will change Hero's life?as will the voice inside of her, bidding her to "do something magical. I must push the story on, and then I really could close the book and leave it behind me." Mahy's exceptional imagination and storytelling prowess will make it difficult for readers to leave this book behind them?hers is a tale with staying power. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6 Up?This intriguing novel will be welcomed by Mahy's fans and by those who enjoy thought-provoking fiction. She touches on various topics including family dynamics, child abuse, and gender roles, while simultaneously exploring themes of self-realization and individuation. Hero, the narrator, reflects on her 12th year when a series of unusual events changed her life. At home, the abrupt return of her older sister, Ginevra, creates both joy and stress in the Rapper family. Meanwhile, Hero's leafy hideaway in the parklike grounds of a neighboring house becomes the setting for a parttime job as well as the scene of violence and despair. Working as a gardener for the eccentric Miss Credence, Hero is at first unaware of the misery and madness that surround her. Skillful foreshadowing, however, prepares readers for the book's shocking revelations. Parallels between Ginevra and Miss Credence, neither of whom were able to live up to their parents' unrealistic expectations; and between Hero, mute by choice, and Jorinda, Miss Credence's unacknowledged daughter who is locked in silence by severe neglect and possible brain damage, provide plenty of food for thought as the story builds to a crescendo. Despite the serious subject matter, the book is neither grim nor hopeless. Hero finds the strength to communicate verbally again and to resist her unintentionally overbearing mother as she develops her own personality and values. Deft characterization, smooth writing, and a totally original and absorbing worldview make this another fine book by the versatile Mahy.?Lisa Dennis, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Viking Juvenile (October 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670864552
• ISBN-13: 978-0670864553
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,638,904 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Margaret Mahy lives in New Zealand and is internationally acknowledged as one of the most outstanding children's writers today. She is the author of more than two hundred books for children of all ages, two of which have received England's Carnegie Medal and others of which have garnered numerous citations from the American Library Association. She is also the recipient of An Order of New Zealand, the highest honor a citizen can receive. In 2006 she received the Hans Christian Andersen award for her contributions to international children's literature.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inner and Outer Lives, September 24, 2001

By 

"reedekullervo" (Edina, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Other Side of Silence (Hardcover)

Another fine book from Margaret Mahy dealing with the complex emotional lives of teens. Hero, the silent one, struggles to deal with her loving, but clueless family of geniuses. Mom is well-known author on childhood genius (based on her own children's lives), Dad is a stay at home mom, her older sister uses her gift for math and physics to wreck cars and her brother is a secret script writer for a steamy soap opera. Amid this chaos Hero lives two seperate lives, an inner life of fantasy adventures and outer life mostly defined by her voluntary decision not to speak, which puzzles and frustrates her family.
A chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor lady at once expands Hero's scope for innocent fairy tales while at the same time forcing Hero to confront the darker side of the fantastical. As her curiosity takes her into the neighbor's own bizarre life she learns the awful consequences of living a fairy tale and the differences between voluntary and involuntary silence.
Plenty of plot and not without touches of humor, Hero's quest to unite her innner and outer selves provides a thoughtful look at growing up and finding one's own voice in the world.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a multi-stranded story such as I expect from Margaret Mahy, December 6, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Other Side of Silence (Paperback)

A difficult but rewarding story, and it reminds me of some of Jan Mark's latest books and of FIRE AND HEMLOCK by Diana Wynne Jones. If anyone else has noticed this, I'd love to hear from them.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Keep This Book Under QT!, April 19, 2005

By 

Reviewer (North American Continent) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Other Side of Silence (Paperback)

I didn't like this book. It was just too weird.

Hero, 12 is selectively mute (selectively mute as distinguished from electively mute in that the person speaks in specific instances to certain persons). She was named for a character in Shakespeare's "As You Like It." Her siblings have the odd names of Athol, 23 Ginevra, 21 and younger sister Sapphira comprise the family along with their conventionally named author parents Mike and Annie. Annie is a lover of words and Ginevra follows in her footsteps by writing a book about how intelligence is stimulated by vocabulary enrichment. Sapphira gets on everybody's nerves with her use of arcane words such as "collieshangle," "cogger" and others.

Ginevra returns home with boyfriend and baby on the way; Hero is hired to work in her neighbor's garden and do light housekeeping. Plenty of weird things take place in this book and the girl in the attic was just too implausible to be taken seriously, even on a literary level. The ending is just as bizarre as the rest of the book. Forget this book. There are better books about elective (choosing not to speak) mutism and selective (speaking only under specific conditions) mutism.