Listening to the Silence

Tired of the clamor of the city and her mind, Prudencia Prim heads to a remote village to apply for a position as a librarian for a gentleman's private collection. This she does despite meeting none of the expectations an qualifications in the advert. When she is given the job she is surprised over and over again by the residents of both the house and the village. Neither is what she expected to find and she is unsure of how to behave when she does get to know both, despite having very strong opinions on the way things ought to be.

This was an unexpected gem of a novel! Utterly enchanting, it definitely rates up there with some of the best novels of the year. Originally published in Spanish in 2011, it was just released in English in 2014. I am disappointed to only just now be discovering it and that as yet I have seen no other reviews. Prudential and all the other residents of this novel charmed me, but what I loved most is that they are realistic. No one . Is without their flaws, there is no one is perfect or perfectly hateful. While thereis a romance, this novel is so much more than that. It is overflowing with ancient knowledge, philosophy, critiques on modern education and society, references to great literature and poetry, theological debates, and perhaps best of all study of the human psyche. I picked this book up off my library's new books shelf on a whim, but it is definitely one I will be buying both for my permanent collection and friends and family.