The title actually says it all. 6 months of silent treatment between husband and wife. A story of secrets, things we wish we’d said, and most importantly, love. A moving novel which shows how a long marriage has its twists and turns. Definitely recommend

The story of this married couple is a family drama/saga style of book that explores both sides of the marriage, and why they haven't spoken a word to each other in 6 months. At times I found it hard to relate to the characters or the story, I can see it was well written and with a clear message of communication and inner feelings becoming conflicted, yet somehow there was just something that I held back from.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS STORY!! 

This is a beautifully written, highly emotional book about love, the lies we tell ( even to those closest to us), loss and the NEED for honesty. The story starts with Frank and Maggie. Maggie is found unconscious and remains like this is hospital. A nurse advises Frank to continue talking to his wife even whilst she is in a coma. He clearly finds this very difficult but soon realises he doesn't actually know how long he has with Maggie and if she does regain consciousness the extent of brain damage if any is unknowe. As we work backwards we find that this couple actually haven't spoken to each other for the last 6 months. It's got to the point where all of those years of marriage, all of those years together comes into question because you'd like to think that whatever is going on they'd at least talk to each other to sort things out. We discover a relationship that is like an elastic band stretched to breaking point by an 'event/incident' that happened 6 months ago to trigger  silence. As the reader your heart breaks for Maggie and Frank - I certainly went through a fair few tissues but as much as this book is sad and emotional, it has hope. We have themes of forgiveness, it has learning to love again after you thought you were broken. The writing is beautiful - I can't wait to read more from this author.

A tender love story spanning 40 years. Told first from Frank’s perspective and then from Maggie’s. Emotional , with such believable characters, this is an excellent debut novel.

This book hits hard. This book is both a heartwarming story of the love between the two main characters who have been married for 40years, a love that I would like to inspire to after reading. However this book is also packed of some truly upsetting and hard times faced by this couple. It had be hooked from the introduction and I could not wait to get back to it everyday.  Would highly recommend but its not an easy ride!

**Review**
The Silent Treatment by Abbie Greaves
‘A lifetime together. Six months of silence. One last chance.’
Frank has not spoken to his wife in six months. It will take a dramatic turn of events for him to finally unravel the secrets that have silenced him. 
I have one word for this book. Wow! 
It is not the type of read I would normally go for, but something about the synopsis caught my attention. I was quickly hooked on the story, due to a dramatic prologue that made me want to read further. I really warmed to Frank as a character, and loved his account of his life with Maggie. I really believed in the love he had for her. 
I won’t say too much as I don’t want to spoil it for you, but I found it an emotional rollercoaster and was a tearful wreck by the end. 
It did get a little soppy and overly romantic in places for me, but I forgive that and by the end I didn’t even care!
If you want an emotional, well written, heart-wrenching story to get caught up in, I would highly recommend you pick this up. It is moving and beautiful. Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for this advanced digital copy. Publication date 02/04/2020

What a fantastic novel!! I had so much fun reading this novel, and absolutely loved the characters. The book itself was well-written which made the world and characters so rich. 4 stars!

A lifetime together.
Six months of silence.
One last chance.

From the outside Frank and Maggie share a happy and loving marriage. Then why haven't they spoken for the past six months?

Why has Frank just shut down and stopped speaking to his beloved wife?

Still living together, eating together and sleeping together but without a word spoken - just what has happened to make Frank stop speaking to Maggie?

How much longer will the silent treatment carry on?

Everything changes when Frank finds Maggie collapsed in the kitchen, unconscious with an empty package of sleeping pills on the table. 

She's rushed to hospital and is placed in a medically induced coma while the doctors assess the damage.

A kind nurse Daisy tells Frank this is the time to be speaking to Maggie - they don't have all the time in the world and if he has things he wants to get off his chest then this is the time to say them. 

If she regains consciousness, Maggie may never be the same. Though he is overwhelmed at the thought of losing his wife, will Frank be able to find his voice once again—and explain his withdrawal—or is it too late?

We're taken back to when Frank and Maggie first met and fell in love. Their whirlwind romance and the pain of losing a baby and the years of turmoil of trying and failing to get pregnant.

Then along comes their miracle baby and a whole host of new challenges. 

I really enjoyed the story and was rooting for Frank and Maggie. I desperately wanted to know what on Earth was so terrible that Frank stopped speaking to the woman with all of his heart. 

I really wanted Maggie to wake up and be ok.

And I really wanted to know what happened at the party that changed their daughter.

An emotional but really good read. I will not share any spoilers but will say read it.

Not sure about this one. I liked the story but found it hard to accept that Frank hadn’t spoken one word to Maggie in 6 months and the ending was no surprise either.  Nonetheless, an enjoyable book.

Frank and Maggie are married and the book begins with Maggie being hospitalised and Frank (who hasn't spoken to her in 6 months) is by her side.
I was really interested in this as the premise of a book. However, despite it being really well written, it just didn't engage me at all.
It's more of a family drama, written from the perspective of Frank and told in his reminiscing of their early days together.
Overall, a well written read, but, due to my struggling to engage with either the storyline or characters, an OK read for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, UK Random House for the opportunity to preview.

I feel like saying I enjoyed this book isn’t quite right. It was fascinating and thought provoking, and it prompts lots of questions about the secrets people keep from each other. 

The book starts with Maggie, Franks wife of over 40 years, taking an overdose. And Frank has no idea why, because they haven’t spoken in 6 months. The story is Franks narration of their life until this point (as told to a comatose Maggie) and Maggies version of the same story, as discovered by Frank.

I didn’t really relate to the issues they faced (which other reviewers have touched on) but I don’t think it mattered to my engagement with the story. How people respond to life events and how they share them with the people they love is fascinating, and the author does a good job with it. The story was equally well told from both Frank and Maggie’s perspectives, and the events in their lives weren’t dramatic to the point of disbelief. It would be a great book club pick, I can imagine it provoking a lot of discussion.

The Silent Treatment is a truly emotional read and one that felt a little too close to home in a lot of ways.

It is easy to see myself in Maggie and my husband in Frank….having gone through similar trials and tribulations; having similar personality traits and emotional states. I won’t go into that lest I reveal too much…. suffice to say the characters feel completely authentic; their responses to life’s hardships, to love, loss and grief felt so real…dredging up some things I would much rather leave where they are.

Dredging aside, I enjoyed this novel. Yes there were tears…and a pile of tissues on the couch…..but the writing is beautifully languorous…slowly winding the reader through the hearts and minds of the characters and building a solid foundation of care and empathy towards them.

Told first from Frank’s point of view, then by Maggie’s through a series of letters/diary entries to Frank, The Silent Treatment is a love story 40 years in the making. A portrait of the way love, lies, guilt, grief and loss can shape a relationship and an expression of true unconditional love.

The Silent Treatment, by Abbie Greaves is a heart-breaking story of love, life, parenthood and relationships. An exceptional debut.

Synopsis: Frank and Maggie have been in love and have been married for a long time. But, for the past six months they have lived in complete silence. Frank has suddenly withdrawn and hasn’t breathed a word to his wife in this time. Maggie doesn’t know why and the silence has been eating away at her. Six months of silence has passed until Frank finds his wife on the kitchen floor with an empty pack of sleeping pills by her side. The hospital place Maggie in a medically induced coma, but they don’t have high hopes for her. Can Frank find his voice again? Can he tell Maggie why he has lived in silence for so long before it is too late?

So, before I begin, this book is not what I expected. I was expecting to follow Maggie and Frank’s relationship as it slowly breaks down, and while that is what happens it is not what the story is necessarily about. It is a book about their relationship but more importantly their relationship with their daughter. I did not expect it to focus so much on parenthood and while I am not a parent I still found it to be utterly devastating, it was an emotional story and while I could not fully understand or connect with all the elements, I could feel symathy and empathy for their situation allowing me to feel more connected to the book.

THE NEXT PARAGRAPH CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS AS CONTENT WARNINGS HAVE BEEN GIVEN. PLEASE SKIP IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO READ THEM.

CW: (may contain spoilers so read at your own discretion) …………… : Attempted suicide/suicide, self harm, drug abuse (not detailed), miscarriage, rape (mentioned/referenced – not detailed), difficult parent-child relationship, ….. (relative spoiler) referenced/assumed Postnatal Depression/ Depression.

— Simple And Direct But Extremely Emotive And Powerful —
The Writing/Narrative. Abbie Greaves has a fantastic writing style. It is relatively simple and direct but extremely emotive and powerful. Her writing is easy to read, allowing you to race through the book, and very easily draws you in – it seamlessly creates an emotional atmosphere and empathy for the characters.

The book is told from the perspective of Frank as he recalls the story of his relationship with Maggie and builds up to what eventually led to his silence. We also get some insight into Maggie’s view of this story – interestingly done and incredibly effective. However, we predominantly see Frank’s perspective, his emotions and his motivations. This is restrictive as we don’t see what Maggie thinks (her view is also not until much later) but it works and is effective because it maintains some mystery in the novel, it keeps you reading. The slow build up and reveal works well with this perspective choice as you can feel Frank’s struggle with it.

Maggie’s perspective is a limited one, though I’ll refrain from saying how we see it. But it lends a deep and heart-breaking insight ito some of her own struggles and into Maggie herself. This was a wonderful inclusion that relly bought emotion and devastation to the novel and sheds light on some incredible difficulties.

The perspective was effective and aided the story and its slow reveal very well, it was a good choice and didn’t grow stagnant at all, it worked well and allowed us to piece things together ourself.

— A Wonderful And Powerful Story —
The Story/Plot. The story is a character driven one since it focuses around the two main characters relationship and Frank’s hesitation to reveal why he has been silent, there is no ‘plot’ so to speak but the characters are strong enough to drive the story.

The story itself is definitely an interesting one but I did feel a little misled. The synopsis made it appear that the book was about a couple’s relationship breaking down. While that does kind of happen it isn’t really a stroy about that – it is a story about parenting and parent-child relationships. This doesn’t become apparent until a little way in and was a little shocking as it was unexpected.

However, it is still a wonderful and powerful story. The slow build and reveal worked incredibly well, the way Frank talks to his wife about the start of their relationship up to the point where he grew silent was brilliant. I loved the slow progression as it felt like Frank was sorting through his feelings, it felt right to have it move in that way. The parenting aspect is incredibly essential to the stroy and was interesting and devastating to read about. At times it was a little difficult to connect with, since I am not a parent myself, but overall I could still feel the emotion and impact the events of the book had or evoked.

All the elements created and explored tied into each other very well, the mystery was well thought out and did keep me hooked. My only concern was the end twist, the reason for Frank’s silence was not as suprising as it was likely intended. To clarify as the ending is double layered. One element that occurs regarding the ending is not suprising as I figured it out pretty early on, but Frank’s part – his solid reason for staying silent was a little more surprising. Not overly shocking but definitely understandable and heart-breaking.

The story itself deals with a lot of issues, I won’t list them here as they are spoilers. But, it deals with them well, in a raw and realistic way – this was effective and difficult, it definitely created a lot of emotion, empathy and sympathy throughout the story.

— Well Written, Raw And Realistic —
The Characters. So Frank Maggie and Eleanor and the three key players in this story, other characters are present and are interesting and well written but I will only be talking about Maggie and Frank as Eleanor is too central to the plot and I don’t want to post spoilers and the other characters are minor ones.

Frank, Maggie and Eleanor are extremely well written, raw and realistic and their relationships with each other are very natural and emotional.

Frank. Frank obviouly loves Maggie, he is utterly devoted to her (despite his silence) and will do naything for her. However, he is naive and doesn’t appear to think deeply about her views or how things may affect her, he has a tendency to take people and their emotions at face value. He is, however, sweet and kind just a little too reserved. He also adores his child, but has quite a different approach to Maggie in terms of parenting, but it does deeply affect him as he does care about them both.

Frank, when Maggie ends up in hospital, is devastated and is desperate to tell the story of his silence but struggles too and opts to start from the beginning. We see his past with Maggie and his love is obvious, but his devastation and guilt is eating him up and the story progressively gets harder to tell and more devastating. Frank is a brilliantly written character who really brings out the emotion of the story as he tells it and places a lot of blame on himself – it is realistic and poignant.

Maggie. Maggie is the opposite of Frank. She is fiery, impuslive and wild – she is incredibly lively and headstrong often taking matters into her own hands. However, Maggie feels things deeply, she is incredibly affect by her emotions but knows how to put on a brave face. Her love and adoration for Frank is equally as obvious, she is passionate and her love she is equally so but his silence is devastating to her.

She is equally devoted to her child. As we get to her perspective her emotions become clear and her distress of the situation is painful. Maggie is an incredibly strong person and her character is powerful you can’t help but feel for her.

Overall: Despite being misled, it is a powerful story that is heart-breaking, emotional and difficult. The characters are raw and realistic and the story progresses slowly but effectively. This is a book that I would recommend, it is a difficult story about love and parenting and is a brilliant read. Though I was not the right audience for such a book, it is one that was worth reading.

*I received an eARC of #TheSilentTreatment by #AbbieGreaves from #Netgalley #RandomHouseUKCornerstone(Century) in exchange for an honest review*

This review will be posted to Goodreads, my blog and twitter on 2nd April - links will be provided on this date.

A touching and at times desperately sad tale which is thoughtfully  written and unhurried, 

The Silent Treatment explores love and loss, desperation for a family, mistakes and hidden secrets between one couple, and their daughter.  

Each unable to communicate what they so desperately need to.   Each wishing for the best for others. Each loving the other. But each locked in a six month long silence unable to break the loop. 

At times it reminded me of Mitch Ablom novels.   Beautiful and tragic. A recommended read if you are at a point in your life when you can read about such things. A truly heartbreaking story of love.  Get tissues ready...

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC I. Exchange for my honest views.

Frank hasn't spoken to Maggie, his wife for six months. Why?
Maggie has had enough and decides to end her life but is found.
As she lies in a coma Frank opens up to her about their love, life and why he hasn't spoken.
Will Maggie recover and more importantly will they?

Thought provoking book, beautifully written

A beautifully written book, written from the perspective of both husband and wife. Although quite easily and early the book I guessed the main theme, the writing kept me intrigued enough to want to know the whole story. I felt as though I was there living their lives, and that is quite rare in a book

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I enjoyed this story very much and felt like I knew each character personally due to the description of them. I enjoyed the storyline. This is not my usual genre but in this instance I am extremely pleased and grateful for opening up my mind to something totally different. Thanks again.

I'm afraid I couldn't get to grips with this book. The opening repeated scences  annoyed from the onset,and as there's so many other books I'd to read, I decided I didn't want to waste my time and effort in this one.

As someone that absolutely hates getting the silent treatment, this book both interested and scared me to death. I couldn’t look away. Very unique idea that totally worked for me. Loved it!

This seems to be a book that you either love or it leaves you a bit unsatisfied. I am sorry that I am in the latter group. I read it fairly quickly, enjoyed it well enough but found the central premise rather unbelievable. To accept that after 40 years of apparently extremely happy marriage, Frank stops speaking to Maggie while carrying on normal life, is pushing my ability to enter the story.  He has his reasons and she tries to get through to him but fails until the day he finds her slumped on the kitchen table having tried to take her own life.  Silent treatment is generally thought to be a form of passive aggression. Someone who can't deal with their own feelings or who wants to punish you, stops communicating and refuses to explain why. This is one of the most painful and difficult things to deal with in any relationship and of course it can drive someone to take extreme action. But Frank - why?  

The book is about the story of their relationship and their family and the struggles they had with their daughter. I wondered if one reason she went to completely off the rails was because her parents were cocooned in their own love pact and didn't want the outer world to spoil their threesome. Too much pressure. Too intense expectations. Who knows as this wasn't really explored in the story?

However, the book tells us in great detail how much Frank adores his wife and how in retelling her their story,, along with the bits that he had previously kept secret, he helps her recover from the effects of her suicide attempt.

It is an interesting idea and I was attracted to the book because of the themes but in reading it I felt a bit disappointed.  I certainly read it quite happily but would have liked the book more if there had been more depth to the analysis of their claustrophobic relationship and what lay behind their daughters troubles. And I wish there had been more explanation for why a loving loyal husband would stop speaking to his wife - just feeling guilty didn't really convince me.

So, a mixed reaction from me.  But I would try another by this author as I think her ideas are very interesting.