THE SILENT WATERS, author Brittany Cherry. An author well known for her complicated characters and emotional stories. She creates a world around music and the tragedies/traumas her characters go through. A world that focuses on the dynamic of its lead characters.
In THE SILENT WATERS, at the start, 10-year-old Maggie witnesses a crime after which her life changes. Maggie stops talking, she's home-schooled and is mostly confined to her bedroom. It's years before she gradually starts to communicate via writing.
In this isolation, books, music, and family - parents, her step-siblings, neighbour and friend Brooks, keep her company and sheltered. Her father keeps up the positivity and never loses faith or gets angry with her. He keeps up her supply of books. Her stepbrother and his friend Brooks keep the music coming and her stepsister brings the drama.
As a 10-year-old Brooks is only irritated with Maggie following them all the time and professing her love and plans to marry Brooks. After the incident he becomes friends, then best friends and later boyfriend to Maggie. He is one constant in her life who treats her just like a friend without wrapping her in a bubble.
THE SILENT WATERS is Brooks' love for Maggie, it is patient, generous and unwavering. He never coerces Maggie to talk or come out of her isolation, instead he brings the world to her. He makes music for her, brings her books, writes her notes and always visits her without fail. Years of patience and love are what finally help Maggie. She comes out of her room, builds bridges with her family and eventually talks.
It's also no surprise her first words are for Brooks. It's a popular saying that still waters run deep and I'd like to think it's only appropriate to include silence in that too. Why I am saying that is because Maggie though silent is communicative in other ways, she grows, learns and is her own person. So when she eventually talks she's up-to-date enough with the world around her.
To say the least, this story is emotional. It will make you cry and overwhelm you quite a few times. You'll want to cry and get frustrated at Maggie frequently, especially with all the unanswered questions about the incident. It will nag you yet keep you reading to know what happens. It is this journey that will give you all the feels. There will be tears maybe some ugly crying but it will also soothe you with hope, love and music.
Pick up a copy...better yet the series if you want some cry-worthy binge reads. My favourite though is the first one The Gravity of Us, which still makes me wish to meet a man like its hero all stoic, broody and just so good.
Maggie was ten years old when she lost her voice. It felt as if a piece of her was stolen away, and the only person who could truly hear her was gentle boy-next-door Brooks Griffin. For decades he was the light during her dark days, the promise of a brighter tomorrow...until tragedy found him and threatened to drown them both.
Our lives are a collection of moments. Some full of yesterday's hurts. Some full of tomorrow's promises.
I've had many moments in my lifetime: moments that changed me, challenged me. Moments that scared me and engulfed me. But the biggest ones—the most heartbreaking and breathtaking ones—all included him.
I was ten years old when I lost my voice. A piece of me was stolen away, and the only person who could truly hear my silence was Brooks Griffin. He was the light during my dark days, the promise of tomorrow, until tragedy found him. Tragedy that eventually drowned him in a sea of memories.
This is the story of a boy and girl who loved each other, but didn't love themselves. A story of life and death. Of love and broken promises.
Of moments.
Consistently topping BOOKTOK's "Books That Make You Ugly Cry" lists, The Silent Waters brings the angst, the spice, and the beautifully painful longing…
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