REVEREND OF SILENCE
By Pamela Sparkman
January 14th 2020
Young Adult, Historical
A coming of age story about faith, love, and overcoming society's
prejudices during the American Antebellum period.
In 1810, Lucy
Hallison suffered from a severe illness at the age of three, and later
recovered, a deaf-mute. Unable to relate to the world in which she lives, she’s
often ignored and sometimes treated with cruelty. Until a boy, Samuel Burke,
steps into her life at the tender age of seven, coloring her world and showing
her what it means to be seen, to not be invisible, to be understood.
The two become
inseparable childhood friends, and as they grow and mature, there is the
promise and hope of something more that also grows between them. But the hope
of something more is put on hold so she can attend The American Asylum at
Hartford for the Deaf and Dumb, the first of its kind, requiring her to leave
the only home she’s ever known and the only boy she’s ever loved.
But while she
is away, tragedy strikes, and Samuel is now the one unable to relate to the
world in which he lives, unable to find his own voice, and withdrawing from
everyone and everything he’s ever known.
When Lucy
returns home from school, she has one goal in mind—to put color back into his
world the way he had once put color into hers.
Because Samuel
Burke had been her voice when she had needed him most.
Now, she is
determined to be his.
Note: Inspired by real people and true historical accounts.
