ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – The Silence in Between by Josie Ferguson

The Silence in Between by Josie Ferguson is published by Doubleday and available now in hardcover, eBook and audiobook. My thanks to the publishers for the proof copy.

Imagine waking up and a wall has divided your city in two. Imagine that on the other side is your child…

Lisette is in hospital with her baby boy. The doctors tell her to go home and get some rest, that he’ll be fine.

When she awakes, everything has changed. Because overnight, on 13 August 1961, the border between East and West Berlin has closed, slicing the city – and the world – in two.

Lisette is trapped in the east, while her newborn baby is unreachable in the west. With the streets in chaos and armed guards ordered to shoot anyone who tries to cross, her situation is desperate.

Lisette’s teenage daughter, Elly, has always struggled to understand the distance between herself and her mother. Both have lived for music, but while Elly hears notes surrounding every person she meets, for her mother – once a talented pianist – the music has gone silent.

Perhaps Elly can do something to bridge the gap between them. What begins as the flicker of an idea turns into a daring plan to escape East Berlin, find her baby brother, and bring him home….

Based on true stories, The Silence in Between is a page-turning, emotional epic that will stay with you long after you finish reading.

Imagine you’ve had a baby but he’s in hospital. You leave him to go home for a short time and while you’re away from him a wall goes up between you and him. Actually, I can’t imagine how that would feel, but that’s what happens to Lisette in this book when the Berlin Wall is erected pretty much overnight. Her 15 year old daughter, Elly, thinks she might be able to get baby Axel back. It’s risky but she’s willing to try for the sake of her mother, who is broken by what’s happened.

This aspect of the storyline alone had me captivated before I even started reading but there’s so much more to this book. There’s another whole strand set around Lisette and her mother during WWII. I must admit to sketchy knowledge of Germany’s war and how they suffered, and even the Berlin Wall is now something consigned to history, although I do remember it coming down, but this book completely and utterly brought both periods and the horrors of what Germany’s citizens lived through completely to life for me.

The Silence in Between is an incredible debut by Josie Ferguson. It’s a tale of resilience, courage and survival, family, love and music. It is shocking and daring, and the bravery of the two main female characters, Lisette and Elly, shines through on every single page.

Every so often a book comes along that will stay with me long after I’ve closed it. This is one such book. Everything about it is special. I loved how the author weaved music throughout it all. The way both timelines unfold, making sense of Lisette’s behaviour, shows outstanding plotting, and there are some real heart in mouth moments. This whole book is exceptional in every way.

Born in Sweden, to a family of writers and readers, Josie Ferguson moved to Scotland when she was two. She returned to Sweden in her twenties, where she completed a vocational degree in Clinical Psychology (MSc). Upon graduating, she moved to London to pursue a career in publishing, something she had dreamed about since delving into fictional worlds as a child, hidden under the duvet with a torch.

She later moved to Asia in search of an adventure and a bit more sun and currently works as a freelance book editor in Singapore, where she lives with her husband and two young children. While training to become a clinical psychologist, Josie learned about the complexity of human nature, something she explores as a writer. She believes books about the past can change the future and she aspires to write as many as possible. The Silence in Between is her debut.