Poignant and harrowing in equal measure, this is a novel of the current moment. The stories of trauma experienced by refugees fleeing conflict in Syria don’t make this an easy read but it has grace nonetheless.

The central character is conflicted and flawed but always authentic. I am glad that I had the opportunity to receive this ARC.

Silence Is A Sense

Even though I’m so late reading this book, I’m glad I’ve read it now. For the past two years we have been embroiled in the aftermath of the previous government’s decision to house asylum seekers at the the now closed Lincolnshire RAF base close by. While many of the community were worried about the issue, our reasons for concern were very different. When a local meeting descended into violence, it became clear that despite our concerns for the asylum seekers, we couldn’t voice them because of the sheer weight of people strongly opposing the plan. Some of them from as far away as Wales and Leeds. The campaign was targeted by far right organisations that didn’t really care about reasonable concerns, they just wanted to use it for their own political gain. Known fascists became interested and the gate to the base became a makeshift camp festooned with flags, stop the boat banners and others claiming asylum seekers were paedophiles. It became really hard to drive past and see all this racism and misinformation on the gates of such an iconic base, ironically known for it’s fighting against a fascist regime taking over Europe. We became part of an organisation set up to support the asylum seekers as they arrived into this hostile environment. When the new government changed course with the policy, we were relieved to know that there no longer fascist organisations camping out up the road. This did give me more insight into a refugee’s journey so I was happy to have read it finally.

The writer cleverly chooses a fragmented structure to tell her story. Named ‘The Voiceless’ she writes about her experience as a way of processing her story and communicating it to other people as far as she can. Her memory comes in snippets, so her narrative moves back and forth in time and might seem a bit sketchy. Imagine everything you have is taken away from you. Your home is in rubble, everything you owned and said something about who you are is gone with it. You have no documents to prove your identity or your education. Everyone you have known is either dead or scattered to the wind. She has escaped Aleppo with nothing. If you think about what your belongings, choices of clothing and your photographs say about who you are, then imagine it gone. How do you keep a sense of self? Especially when you’re seeing or subjected to atrocities like killing, abuse and rape. Your psyche becomes shattered. Our narrator is trying to record those fragments, to bear witness and also to put the bits of herself back together. It might feel strange, even jarring at first but it’s supposed to be. It’s meant to confront and make you think.

The author shows us how she tries to embark on a future and make connections. She’s starting a journey of self-discovery, rebuilding herself in this new environment. She writes from home and watches her neighbours, keeping her eye on them. It’s the hyper-vigilance, it’s hard for her to drop these habits even though she’s now safe. Her muteness isolates her from others, in fact many people assume she’s deaf as well. She takes small steps outside, using the shop and going to the mosque and starts to meet people. Her observations of her neighbours are quite humorous as she gives them names that reflect their behaviour - the Juicer and No Light Man. Her insight into us is brilliant. She has that outsider’s gaze and because she doesn’t want to reveal too much about herself at first, she can use these observations. She writes about the people she sees, the strange way of life she observes more than anyone else because it’s alien to her. Slowly she starts to process and share her own story. That she once had a somewhat privileged upbringing, she was well-educated too but war has left her with nothing. She had an ordinary life. Then there’s the war, loss and the terror of trying to get to a place of refuge; a refuge isn’t always the safe place it seems. She slowly makes space for new people in her life. I felt like her writing and sharing was helping her heal, remembering the trauma and processing it fully helps make room for growth. As someone who advocates writing therapy I found this so moving. The author has captured this process so beautifully as the writing becomes less fragmented and less about the past. This is such an important story and I’ll be buying the book for a few friends who I know will want to read it and maybe a few who wouldn’t. The sections of her time in Syria and travelling to the UK is so evocative, I defy people not to be moved by the raw truth of her experience. I found it deeply moving and I’ll be shouting about it on my blog.

A powerful story following the life of a Syrian refugee who is a mute, and spends her days watching people live their lives through her window. However, one day she witnesses an attack on the mosque nearby, and what follows in the wake of this attack is captivating I must say.

Beautifully written, with the character being given so much depth and development throughout. The storyline itself is perfectly paced and intriguing to the end.

What a powerful story and very atmospheric. The book is so raw and emotional, and get me engaged right until the end. The story shows the reader the impact of war and refuge is not always This novel shows us the human impact of war as I felt the characters trauma. A very important read.

A powerful novel which looks at the experience of a young mute Syrian refugee woman who after spending her days watching her community through her window witnesses an attack on the local mosque. I found this to be an intense and beautifully written novel which gives a voice to those so often ignored in contemporary fiction.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review a digital ARC.

This was atmospheric and deliberately low-key but I didn't feel curious enough to want to read on. DNF

A young Muslim Syrian immigrant now lives in the UK, after being exposed to conflict. She is mute since experiencing the trauma of war. She is a writer that leads a humble and simple life. She considers herself small and insignificant as she tries to blend in and not draw attention to herself. People often assume she is deaf as well as mute, but she doesn’t mind, it helps her keep to herself.
She lives in a block of flats and can see much of what happens in her neighbour’s apartments. She observes everything. She is constantly on alert. She has memorable nicknames names for her neighbours; such as the Juicer (a health obsessed man), No lights man (never uses the lights unless he bring women back), etc that are vivid and thoroughly entertaining to read about. They inject some humour into what could otherwise be a sombre read.
It is as much about self-discovery, learning to live in your own skin. It is a most intricately written insight into someone who had a well-educated and fairly privileged upbringing, but whose life has been drastically and permanently affected by war.
Through the desire to be a writer, the Voiceless, gains a column in a local paper offering observations of a Syrian Asylum seeker. At first she does not want to reveal anything about herself just people around her and insights into the way they behaviour or politics to inform behaviours and ways of life.
However her editor pushes her and slowly she begins to give more information about herself that as a reader we learn about also. Slowly, slowly we learn about life pre arrival to UK, the terror on the boats to how she has tried to adapt in the UK. Despite her reluctance she does start to form relationships with some of those around her, which helps her to start to heal and it makes for a fitting narrative with a pleasing denouement. Sometimes I felt uncomfortable with how much she observes and how much she through this behaviour maybe inappropriately infiltrates others’ lives, but it is a powerful and meaningful way of capturing someone who has live in a heightened state of fight or flight since exposure to horrors most of us thankfully can never truly imagine. Powerful, evocative with wonderful linguistic & descriptive writing skills, this is something raw, evocative and different, and something we should encourage many to read.

This book is difficult to review as the back story is horrific but only referred to in small slices and brief glimpses. The current story of a woman living in England in a tower block, mute and scared but is using her voice to write pieces for magazines while watching her neighbours through her window into their lives. The writing is exquisite and understated, which makes a very powerful story. There were parts of the book I had to stop and ponder as she had put something so clearly but with great depth.

A really interesting and ultimately life affirming read. The story weaves a modern day voyeur’s attempt to avoid integration on a hostile estate and her perilous journey from the conflict in Syria .

A very moving modern, but hard to follow story. A refugee, a block of flats and the diversity of life therein and the dramas that brings. A difficult read.

This is a beautifully written book and starts off quite lightly and gets progressively deeper and more disturbing. I had to read it in the daytime as I was worried about what was going to happen next. A really interesting and thoughtful insight into other lives.
I've just ordered the author's other book

Huge fan of this author and this is another absolutely superb read. I have nothing negative I can say about this book. It has been a great read filled with interesting characters and a unique plot.

Firstly I must say that I really struggled to read this book. It certainly is not what I expected from the write up. I could not get into the character nor the others in the flats and was totally confused over many of the flashback stories. The other characters in the flats were well and humorously described but seemed lost on the interaction with the main character. The horrors faced along the journey were terrible, and candidly described giving full traumatic details.
I understand the point being made that the Muslim community were trying to show that it is wrong to condemn a whole faith for the actions of the minority, however the atrocities committed by these few tend to stay in our minds more and so cause fear.
I have to add that I understand her requirement/desperation to leave Syria but I cannot comprehend the determination of all the refugees like her that their only ambition is to get to the U.K. whatever financial hardship or assorted struggles along the long journey.

Silence is a Sense is undoubtedly an expressive account of a young refugee woman who, after an unimaginable trauma, chooses a path of selective mutism. Living a distanced existence in a block of flats she becomes a voyeur, watching those she can see from her window. Others will engage with this book more than I did which is more to do with the fact that it is just too traumatic a story for me to engage with at this moment. It was not what I expected at all. Hopefully I will revisit this book in the future. Thanks for the ARC.

Layla AlAmmar’s second novel is fantastic. An intense, at times claustrophobic, account of an unnamed Syrian woman living an anonymous life in a block of flats in a London suburb and her interactions with the people around her.

The book goes between the mundanity of suburbia to life in Syria before the war and the journey to the UK with glimpses of the horror she faced along the way.

It’s not an easy book to read at times but that is in no way a criticism. This book really made me think about how we treat refugees and other displaced people.

It will stay with me for a long time

Silence is a Sense, Layla AlAmmar

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction (Adult)

I was intrigued by the description, with so many displaced people across the world this is a scene that must play out over and over.
However, sadly the novel failed to engage my interest, I just didn't connect with the narrator or the people she's talking about. Maybe I'll come back to it another time, and feel differently. After all I can see others have loved this book. For now though its a fail for me.

Stars: Two, a story others love but which didn't connect with me.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

I really wanted to love this book but struggled to really get into it. Perhaps I read it at the wrong time when really I wanted to read something light hearted and frivolous but I didn't enjoy as much as I thought I would and it wasn't the book I expected it to be.

I wasn't sure if this book was based on personal experiences or fiction. Either way I guess it brings home the harsh brutality of a female Syrian refugee trying to find another life, far from home. The girl recounting the story has become mute but writes under the name of the voiceless. She is also a voyeur, watching her neighbours from a flat in an estate in an unnamed U.K city. We hear horrendous stories of her journey in snippets and we see that the lives around her in her place of asylum are also far from perfect. This is a very thought provoking read.

Silence is a Sense tells the story of a selectively mute Syrian Refugee with alternating lyricism and brutality.

The reader is granted entry into her mind as she watches the other residents of her apartment complex through her window, and strangers become acquaintances as she becomes unwillingly involved in their lives. Everything is coloured by her PTSD and repressed memories of her journey to the UK, which are well rendered by Al Ammar.

Reading this book felt like swallowing a stone dipped in honey. Its subject matter is brutal, and being inside the narrator’s trauma is claustrophobic and anxiety inducing. This contrasts with the writing of the novel, which is breathtaking in places. I highlighted swathes of my copy and Al Ammar’s words will stay with me. The characters and setting are fully fleshed out - I feel like I know versions of these characters.

This book deserves to be read widely, and I recommend it heartily, though with multiple content warnings.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Silence is a Sense is a novel that cuts brutally and unflinchingly to the heart of trauma. The characters were raw and I loved the way that AlAmmar questioned the reliabilty of memory and how that can manifest to create a state of self denial.
This was very much a character driven story, and I loved seeing the peripheral characters through the eyes of the protagonist, capturing slice of life of those characters alongside her inner turmoil and tradgedies.
The writting in this was very lyrical and thought provoking, but at the same time compelled the reader forwards, a rare mix in my opinion.
A very current novel looking at immigration, regilion, PTSD and relationships. People who enjoyed The Beekeeper of Aleppo will love this book. Highly recommend.