The Silence Project

Product Information

The next book to be featured on the Zoe Ball Radio 2 Book Club will be The Silence Project, the exciting and powerful debut novel by Carole Hailey. The book is released on 9 February and Carole’s interview with Zoe will be on BBC Sounds from Tuesday 14 February.

Carole Hailey completed the six-month Guardian/UEA novel writing course taught by Bernardine Evaristo, who imbued her with such a love for writing fiction that she abandoned her career in law to undertake an MA in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, followed by a PhD in Creative Writing at Swansea University. Carole was a London Library Emerging Writer 2020/21. The Silence Project was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award 2020 and highly commended by the judges. The book was selected with the help of a panel of library staff from across the UK. Our readers loved Pony – here are some of their comments:Carole was a London Library Emerging Writer 2020/21. The Silence Project is her first published novel and was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize Peggy Chapman-Andrew First Novel Award 2020 and highly commended by the judges. She lives in Wales with her husband and two rescue dogs. A word from Carole

I didn’t expect to be as gripped by this book as I have been. I haven’t been able to put it down, and when I’ve been forced to (to do my day job!) I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It’s brilliant and a bit disturbing, just like dystopian novels should be. Evocative of The Handmaid’s Tale or 1984, it’s even given me nightmares (which I can’t say a book has done before…!). The horror comes in the reality, in the fact the novel absolutely could happen.

For me, this half of the book was like a literary pass the parcel of idea explosions; nothing you or I could expect or can/could see coming develops, but I realised that in fact it’s all about perspectives and Carole has honed them, so they are razor sharp in their inception and so divinely subtle, its almost with hindsight I realised all the clues are/were in front of me, plus there are some more positives in Emilia’s life to uncover. See, I said this novel is a work of total genius…now I’m not giving much away about the second part of the novel, purely because I believe that the impact and elements of this story, need to be revealed as you read it and it will leave you open mouthed at the persuasive and pervasive plans of the Community and the almost benign way it moves to more and more radical concepts and the putrefaction of Rachel’s original beliefs, that being silent allows us to listen and hear more, instead, this becomes a twisted ideology and Emilia feels that breaking her own silence is the only way to combat the poison. This could so easily be seen as a work of fact, and there are many factual events that are included. Trying to work out or remember what has happened against the fictional events is something that made me shudder at times. In a world where the population is rising, where people are starving, and the climate is changing there are groups that are standing up and making their voices heard. This is where I think this story is clever as it is the absence of a voice that makes the loudest noise. The only 'guidelines' they and Emilia have at all of what Rachel wanted to achieve are in Rachel's diaries, which are to be released for publication and for people to interpret what they will.

For the last fifteen years he has devoted his energy to the importance of silence in the world. His work is grounded in the founding principles The narrator, Emilia, is such a relatable character and the conversational tone of the writing makes you feel like you’re truly getting to know her and her side of the story. Without any clear guidance now that Rachel is gone, the Community has grown into a global enterprise and powerhouse, but their original mission seems to have drastically changed. But since Rachel never spoke or wrote down her plans after her suicide, this has given the Community enough free reign to do as they wish under her name and under the guise that this is part of Rachel's grand plans for the Community. When she publishes her own account of her mother’s life in a memoir called The Silence Project, Emilia also decides to reveal just how sinister the Community has become. In the process, she steps out of Rachel’s shadow once and for all, so that her own voice may finally be heard. Selection panel reviewRachel’s story has been told multiple times; at least that is what the authors of all the biographies on my desk would have you believe. They are unofficial because I have never let anyone have access to my mother’s notebooks, and my father and I have never given interviews, except in those terrible hours immediately after the Event. Every so-called biography of Rachel is cobbled together from the internet and all of them contain information ranging from the downright false to the wildest conspiracy theories. This is the first book by Carole Hailey that has been published and I cannot wait to read more by this very talented author. Throughout the book there are many references to real situations and events which added to the reality of the story. The many references to the notebooks added an unexpected twist and made this novel seem factual and not fiction. I absolutely loved The Silence Project. I was hungry for a feminist novel with a dystopian (or utopian) slant, and this delivered in spades. I’ve written a rather long review here, sorry! This novel is so utterly outstanding, masterfully constructed, rife with the complexities of cults, controversial concepts, and contradictions, where seemly genuine moves to help make this world better, can be twisted for a more nefarious purpose. Add in the underpinning of the difficult, enraging, clashing, emotive mother/daughter dynamic and it makes this book, profound, powerful, potent, pertinent, progressive and a downright perfect read. Carole you are a majestic writer with a sumptuous imagination, and I am in awe of you and your book.

Briefly, Emilia Morris is writing a book about her mother Rachel, who committed suicide as part of a world-wide protest. Rachel is the founder of the Community, a cult which at first appears to have peaceful, beneficial aims. Since Rachel’s death the Community has become an extremely powerful presence, and the reader begins to question just how beneficial these aims are. Allen & Unwin Australia’s leading independent publisher of smart fiction and non-fiction, published in the UK through Atlantic Books. If you like female centred, dystopian fiction, like Margaret “Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale”, or Christina Dalcher’s “Vox” or “Q”, I highly recommend this novel. The Resilience Project is an approved provider in several school mental health funding initiatives around Australia. My biggest fear as I write this review is that I don’t have enough superlative adjectives to do it justice or convince you to read it…but please, please do, I am not ashamed to beg you to! Let me now attempt to give you a little taste of what you have instore, when you read Carole’s debut.It was a bit wearing trying to anticipate which mother would make an appearance on any given day…,’ writes Emilia. the highest aspirations of humanity, and to provide a forum for global concerns’. Allan’s experiences at the Rothko Chapel are recorded Carole has done a stunning job of creating and illustrating the fluctuating complexities of the mother/daughter dynamic over the passing of time, between Emilia and Rachel and the emotional cost on both, mainly because of Rachel’s unfathomable choice to embark on this personal quest to be heard without speaking and her ideology morphs into a global cult and Emilia becomes or so it seems a bit player in her mother’s life and almost merely observer in her own. I enjoyed this one a lot, it comes across as being a possibility in a world that is full of negativity at the moment and I can understand the thought behind the positivity and hope that the author expresses through her silent character. The role of the daughter being caught up in her mum's actions is given in a very convincing way and this made it a very readable story. Tune in to the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show to hear the live feature on Tuesday 14 February. You can also listen to the full-length interview on BBC Sounds.