With Halloween witches and goblins and magical creatures
around every corner, what could be more fun than a character
who reads the future in a murder of crows and sees the past
in the golden eyes of a tiger? The mystical Ruth appears in
Peggy
Webb’s latest novel, THE
LANGUAGE OF SILENCE, the story of an abused woman who
flees to the only place she knows that is safe – the same
circus that sheltered her tiger-taming grandmother. Win a
signed copy of THE
LANGUAGE OF SILENCE in Peggy’s Little Bit of Magic contest!
Following in the footsteps of her
tiger-taming grandmother, a woman flees her abusive husband
to join the circus in this masterful, heartfelt work of
women’s fiction.
Peggy Webb won raves for her debut novel, The Tender Mercy
of Roses*, with novelist Pat Conroy calling her “a truly
gifted writer.” Now Webb has crafted a poignant portrayal of
a woman on the edge seeking solace in the past.
Nobody in the family talks about Ellen’s grandmother Lola,
who was swallowed up by the circus and emerged as a woman
who tamed tigers and got away scot-free for killing her
husband. When Ellen’s husband, Wayne, beats her nearly to
death, she runs to the only place she knows where a woman
can completely disappear—the same Big Top that once
sheltered her grandmother. Though the circus moves from one
town to the next, Wayne tracks it, and Ellen, relentlessly.
At the same time, Ellen learns more about her feisty, fiery
relative, and the heritage that is hers for the taking—if
she dares. With her violent husband hot on her trail, Ellen
must learn to stand up and fight for herself, to break the
cycle of abuse, and pass down a story of love and redemption
to her children.