Listening to the Silence

In her usual arresting style, O'Farrell tells the reader two intertwined stories. The first is the story of a young woman living in postwar London, and the second a contemporary man and woman embarking on parenthood. It is not made clear until nearly two-thirds of the way through the book exactly how the stories are connected, though I begin to suspect long before. However it wasn't exactly what I expected and I I was grateful for that surprise.

Since my first book by this author I have loved her style. From page one she hooks me and I have a hard time putting the book down. Telling two stories is often difficult, but O'Farrell does so regularly, and as usual handled it well. I was slightly more intrigued in the first, but the other story had no problem keeping me interested. In all, it was another great book by someone who is definitely one of my favorite contemporary authors.