An interesting re-telling of a story we only know the name of- a great introduction into the struggles Deaf people have faced in society

This really was a tremendously engaging read, bringing history to life, told through two well balanced and equally involving timelines, vividly capturing the realities of being deaf in a hearing world along with exposing the corrupt world of scientific discovery – and it really was quite beautifully written.

Now living in London with her fiancé, Ellen Lark is sought out by her former teacher Alexander Graham Bell, seeking her support while pursuing the patent for his newly invented telephone. Their history together, when living in Boston, was when he became her teacher – discouraging the use of the sign language that became her lifeline when she lost her hearing through scarlet fever at the age of four, and that made communication possible while growing up with her mother and sister.

When her mother travels to England, she’s left in the care of her grandmother Adeline, who agrees to her attending Bell’s school where she learns the techniques of visible speech and use of notebooks – a difficult struggle, but a change driven by Bell’s belief that it’s the only way that deaf people can communicate on an equal footing in a hearing world. While his charisma engages her, and she proves a particularly good pupil, Ellen has her doubts about Bell’s motives – and her fears are only confirmed after a chance meeting with Frank McKinney, which brings her into close contact with a wider deaf community she didn’t know existed, who open her eyes to the way he was using them to achieve his own fame and fortune.

The characterisation in this book is really excellent. The story is told by Ellen, in a clear and consistent voice – and in the earlier timeline you really feel her loneliness and vulnerability as her only means of communication is denied to her. The author makes very real the difficulties of lipreading – the words that can be difficult to distinguish, the need to fill the gaps by guessing intervening words, even the problems caused by facial hair. At times, the writing becomes equally staccato and faltering – very cleverly done, and particularly effective in conveying the difficulties. But Ellen is also an extraordinarily strong character – beautifully drawn, involving the reader in her emotional journey and very easy to empathise with through the insights into her experience. And Bell himself is complex and fascinating – outwardly caring and driven by his determination to make a difference and improve the lives of others, but in reality more motivated by his quest for recognition and its rewards with rather less consideration for the lives of those he touches.

I really enjoyed finding out more about the issues around the development of the telephone, and the fight to secure the all-important patents – a moment in history I knew very little about. But I also learned a great deal about the realities of living with deafness – it’s a subject I’ve never seen examined in such depth, with such exceptional authenticity, and the author’s writing engaged me deeply at an emotional level. An important book, but also a quite stunning read – and one I’d very much recommend to others.

(Review also copied to Amazon UK, but link not yet available)

This is Ellen Lark’s story, a fictional character. Ellen has been deaf since the age of four after contracting scarlet fever. Her family taught themselves a form of sign language to enable them to communicate but her paternal grandmother insisted she be sent to Boston under the tutelage of Alexander Graham Bell to learn Visible Speech. Narrated by Ellen in dual timelines this is an emotional and emotive fictional story, based on factual detail in part.

Briefly, after being sent to study with Bell Ellen struggles with his teachings methods and misses her sign language which she, along with the other students, are banned from using. She becomes involved with the local deaf community against Bell’s wishes and meets a young deaf man who tells her his experiences with Bell. Having left the college she goes to England where her mother is living and meets her stepfather’s nephew and starts courting. On the cusp of her wedding, she is contacted by Bell. He wants her help but she doesn’t remember him in a good light.

This is a really interesting look at how the speaking world viewed the deaf community at this time, and I hope this is much improved today. Bell comes across as a rather self obsessed and ambitious man, although he spent much of his life working with the deaf and married a deaf woman. He seemed blinkered in that he didn’t seem to realise that his single mindedness and his inventions, which could benefit so many, were just his way of achieving fame and fortune. However, Ellen needs to tell her story about Bell and how his ambition was at the detriment of the deaf community. It’s quite slow paced but a fascinating story with an interesting protagonist in Ellen who was a woman before her time, strong and intelligent, a fighter for the rights of the deaf community. A compelling and inspiring story.

An interesting story of Ellen Lark, a young deaf woman who is trying to find her own authentic voice.
It cleverly weaves in Alexander Graham Bell, illuminating his developments on visible speech, promoting lip reading to support integration- being deaf doesn’t mean you have no voice, just have to communicate in a different way.
Ellen receives an unexpected visit from Bell, he wants her to support his claim to the patent to his new invention, the telephone as she was his star pupil.
But she has a different story to tell - how Bell betrayed her and the deaf community in pursuit of personal ambition and gain.
It vividly portrays the era’s patent frenzy and society’s attitudes towards deaf people, highlighting the tiring nature of lip reading and sign language and effectively rejecting it as a communication tool.
It’s slow paced, captivating and thought provoking, allowing you to really feel the frustration and isolation Ellen must have felt.
It’s time to tell her story
Thanks @sarahcmarsh @headlinepg & @netgalley for the beautiful historical read

A Sign of Her Own marries two of my favourite things: a historical moment or period I know little about but am now fascinated by and a reclaiming of a narrative from an overlooked voice.

The patent frenzy and Bell’s promotion of Visible Speech were things I knew very little about, but Marsh pours so much time into them and gives us details that make you want to rush off and learn everything about. In particular, the way Bell exploits the Deaf community and embodies the societal attitudes towards Deaf individuals, while also challenging them in some ways. It creates a complex portrait of the man, but emphatically points out the disregard and dismissal of the Deaf community. Deaf culture is vibrant and exciting - as shown in some of my favourite scenes of the book. There are so many different ways of communication, further showing the societal ignorance of sign language. Marsh imbues the book with the isolation Ellen feels to contrast it with this engaging community, though they have their own difficulties around acceptance. That central discussion is fantastic.

Ellen is a great protagonist as well and this is firmly her story. She is reshaping her narrative and learning to be proud of her communication styles, though this is a long and arduous journey that does not necessarily result in a happy ending. Her narrative reflects the silence she hears, pushing through the pages and getting you to question how Visible Speech removes all meaning from words - reducing them to their audibility instead. On the other hand, Ellen is often characterised as a very perceptive woman, who sees the meaning of everything, reminding the reader of the importance of intent and meaning. Her sight is also emphasised to show the extra work placed upon the shoulders of the Deaf community and generally upon disabled bodies. Society forces them to adapt, at exhausting extremes, rather than trying to change.

A Sign of Her Own strays far away from simplistic resolutions - staying instead in the nuanced messiness of being human.

I do like a book that makes me want to learn about someone or something and this is one of those books. I confess I had a vague idea that Bell's achievement might not be as cut and dried as is generally accepted, but now I know who the other players were. As well as all that, it is cleverly written and conveys a sense of lonely confusion which illustrates the situation Ellen finds herself in.

I’ve reviewed A Sign of Her Own by Sarah Marsh for book recommendation and selling site LoveReading.co.uk.
I’ve chosen A Sign of Her Own as a Liz Robinson Book of the Month for February. Please see the link for the full review.

A Sign of Her Own is a must-read for this year. A uniquely compelling voice with almost poetic, richly descriptive language that both captures the time period while being so easily readable. Ellens' storytelling was quiet, thoughtful but not too slow with a pace that kept moving naturally throughout the story, her observations stopping to think or recall a memory in almost a dreamlike way that gave a sort of magical realism to her words. There were some long strings of thought I almost tripped over a few times but it always pulled me right back in.

One of the things I loved was the way Marsh uses speech indicators throughout to give a true representation of Ellens' experience, with speech marks being used for sign and written language as it felt in her world - just one of the little details that made everything truly absorbing. We move between her younger years and the present day when she hears from Bell once again, gradually getting to know her and how she got involved in a complicated web of betrayal and lies in one mans grab for power. Along the way, we get a unique perspective about the creation of universal sign languages, seeing many types of communication from writing, symbols, lip reading and speech therapy - putting us in the position of thinking about the barriers put in place before a common ground or technology gave people a voice people would consider acceptable. There's a bit of archaic language that would've been commonly used at the time which may be uncomfortable for some people to read, but it should make you uncomfortable to think about the treatment anyone not able-bodied have, and still do receive.

Underneath all the fabulous storytelling was a powerful message that gives back the voices of women who have been forced out of the history books, but also the countless people trying to navigate a world that was not designed for them. It may a fictionalised account of history but it captures a striking turning point in the fight for equity and everyone should add this to their book shelf.

Ellen Lark became deaf due to a bout of scarlet fever and this story centres around her education to deal with her deafness. As a child she and her sister devised a sign language but then her mother moved to England and left Ellen with an aunt to attend a deaf school. This did not happen but she attended lessons with Alexander Graham Bell who was determined that deaf children should learn to Visible Speak - not caring whether they understood what they spoke.
So this historical tale revolves round Bell's invention - along with others! - of the telephone, his work with deaf children, Ellen's battle with deafness and, of course, in those times an attempt to lead the life she wanted rather than being directed by others.
Interesting, informative and providing definite food for thought.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Sarah Marsh/Headline for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

I have very recently been graciously adopted into the Deaf community due to losing my voice and teaching myself to sign. The book does demonstrate how welcoming and yet how isolated from the hearing (speaking) world you can become.

I haven't checked all the finer details but Alexander Bell (inventor of the telephone) did do a lot of work with the deaf community. It is hard to interpret signs in words and the author has a good stab at it in places. It may just be that I don't know the sign she was describing yet or there are also regional dialects so it could have been a variant I didn't recognise.

Assuming the historical facts are true it is an interesting account of the evolution of deaf education etc. For some reason I didn't resonate well with the main protagonist which made the book more of a slog whereas I would have expected to devour this one.

This was a dnf for me I'm afraid. I found the narrative effectively showed the barriers Ellen faced in communication and how prejudice of the time added to this.

But the plot building was just too muddled for me and I became frustrated by the lack of clarity. I don't like books where things are kept back, delaying the revealing details to the reader only for the sake of building story. Maybe it's opacity was deliberate as another metaphor towards the experience of Ellen in a time where open communication for the deaf was complicated and restricted but there wasn't enough keeping me invested in this book.

This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

I was keen to read this as I have a profoundly deaf niece who was encouraged to speak rather than learn sign language at school.
This story illustrates how the hearing expect deaf people to adjust to fit in rather than make any adjustments themselves. The historical details about the work of Alexander Bell and his development of visible speech and indeed the telephone act as a metaphor for this expectation.
I struggled somewhat with the shifts in time across the narrative, and did feel that the book was overlong. Nevertheless, a moving account of the deaf community, and the importance of sign language.

Although I found this story difficult to follow at parts (due to the dual timelines, and the story jumped throughout), this was a thought-provoking read with a subject matter that isn’t covered enough. Hopefully there will be more similar books released because it was a fascinating and emotional topic to read about.

An interesting historical fiction novel for sure with a lot of ramifications to think about.

We follow Ellen Lark who becomes deaf following scarlet fever at the age of 4. She learns sign language of a sort so she can communicate with her sister but as she grows older her grandmother, Adeline, pushes for Ellen to study Visible Speech with Alexander Graham Bell who was a professor in Boston at the time this novel is set. He did immense amounts of work with the deaf community but none of it revolved around sign language. Ellen struggles with Visible Speech where she learns written marks to teach her how to intone words - words that she herself will never hear.

As Ellen becomes more involved with the deaf community in the area her loyalties are split between wanting to please Mr Bell and wanting to be part of a community that she feels a true part of. Throw into this mix a romance with a charismatic young deaf man and sparks are bound to fly.

The novel itself is divided into two timelines that flip back and forth and, for me, that was the only drawback of what was a fascinating story that made me really think about what it is to be deaf and how lives are shaped. I would have preferred a linear tale as I was irritated by flipping forwards just as I was getting engrossed in the past.

Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It is an excellent fictional look at the work that Bell did with the deaf community and the evolution of the telephone. I'd be very interested to see what a deaf person thought of this history, Visible Speech and Bell himself. I would definitely recommend this book. It is fascinating and well written.

Thankyou to Netgalley and Headline Books for the advance review copy.

A book that has a very powerful storyline and a subject matter close to my heart. However, I don't feel that it was as well executed as it could have been. At times the plot felt slow, and a bit all over the place. This wasn't the easiest to follow.

A fascinating and thought-provoking story showing how people were impacted by the loss of hearing in the past and how the creation of sign-language was life-changing. The isolation and frustration is wonderfully capture in the character Ellen, who shows the reader her life at the time Alexander Bell started to get involved with the teaching of deaf children, who were were like his guinea pigs. Opened my eyes to things I never knew about history, I will definitely be interested to learn more myself about the experiences of those pioneering children and adults in the deaf community who opened so many doors for those living in the world today (on the fence about Bell intentions).

Ellen Lark stands at the threshold of marriage when an unexpected visitor, Alexander Graham Bell, disrupts her plans. Having been Bell's student in the technique of Visible Speech, Ellen, who is deaf, quickly discerns the true purpose of Bell's visit. While he guided her in speaking, Bell also shared his dream of inventing a device to transmit the human voice through wires—the telephone. Now, as Bell faces challenges to the patent for his invention, he urges Ellen to speak in support of his cause.

However, Ellen holds a different narrative—one of betrayal by Bell. She recounts how, in his pursuit of ambition and personal gain, Bell betrayed her and fellow deaf pupils, severing her ties to a community where she had found genuine belonging. It's a story that those around Ellen seem reluctant to acknowledge, but as the stakes escalate, there may be no better time for her to bring this truth to light.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if it were in a bookshop. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

A fascinating, sensitive and beautifully-written exploration of deaf identity, the isolation of the non-hearing, and the way deaf people have been treated in the past.

It was very interesting to read about how signing and lip reading and speaking is learnt by deaf people. I had never realised that some word just disappear like the main characters name, Ellen.

The book is about Ellen Lark who looses her hearing following Scarlet Fever, how she is sent to schools including one run by Graham Bell, to learn to speak. It describes the difficulties frustrations and prejudices encountered by deaf people.
The first part I found very interesting, but found the jumping in times lines confusing as the story progressed and found that I lost interest.

This was such an interesting concept for a book, and I really enjoyed the beginning with the well expressed sense of isolation and frustration Ellen was feeling at losing her hearing and realising she was now different to her friends and family. I thought her mother and grandmother's despair at not being able to "cure" her was well written as well. Unfortunately I then became quite confused by the shifting timelines, and the bits of the story I did follow seemed a bit dull at times. I realise that the link with Bell added to the layers of the story, but i did feel if it were more linear or even a contemporary setting i would have enjoyed it more.
Thank you to netgalley and headline for an advance copy of this book

2.5 rounded up to 3 stars