Silent
Adi, the 15-year-old daughter of a British father and Indian mother, escorts her twin 10-year-old half-brothers to the home of their British grandmother in Europe. Upon arriving, Adi and the twins learn that their grandmother has died. Left adrift in a foreign country, Adi does her best to support the boys, despite her dislike for them. Adi inadvertently spoils the plans of Coal, a supernatural, shapeshifting character, to start a world war. Coal exacts revenge by kidnapping the twins and setting Adi on a quest to rescue her brothers. Bound by Coal’s rule to remain silent—no talking or writing—and guided by four riddles inside a watch Coal gives her, Adi spends the next four years, during the chaos and commotion of The Great War (which Coal successfully instigates shortly after Adi’s interference), searching for her brothers before time runs out.
Set in Europe during WWI, the setting and magical realism provide an eerie and haunting backdrop for readers ages twelve and up. Adi is a feisty character, accustomed to being an outcast. She is aided by a cast of characters including: George, a drunken, reluctant heir to an obscure duchy with a heart of gold; Doc, the Army doctor/father-figure; and, ironically and inexplicably, Coal who saves her life when he could have exacted his ultimate revenge. Mellon jumps back and forth in time to explain the motivations of the story’s antagonists yet not always to a satisfying degree. Coal is intriguing, at times more interesting than the main character, but his motivations are unclear. Readers may come away asking: Why would an immortal agent provocateur care a wit about a 15-year-old girl who accidentally delays his plans, let alone go to such lengths for vengeance?