Bridget Collins has done it again.

If you like intrigue, plot twists, extremely well built and complex characters, this book has it all.

This book follows Henry as he leaves his home seeking a new life, only to find himself entangled in a spider silk business and mysterious webs of lies (pun fully intended).
The story mainly happens in Henry's timeline, but with excerpts of Sophia's own experience on a different timeline, told through her personal journal.

Its a fascinating story, extremely well written, which leads to a totally immersive experience.


#TheSilenceFactory

Victorian. Industrial revolution. Magical Fabric that blocks all sound. Forbidden attraction.

I hope that entices you to read this book, because let me tell you I was not expecting the forbidden attraction element and it made me momentarily forget I didnt like a particular character because I was anticipating a kiss so hard.

The victorian, industrial revolution setting comes through strongly and lends itself to building a fantastic novel. The magical elements were explained and told through a dual timeline unfolding of the story and history of the fabric, and I loved both time periods. I was not disappointed any time the point of view switched. I think this was due to the strong character work which had me sympathetic to our protagonists from the first few pages so I was always ready to come back and find out more of their story. Especially when they were in the middle of making a daft mistake.

Read this book for the characters, atmosphere and romantic tension.

Bridget Collins quickly became my favourite author after The Binding. So I was thrilled to read The Silence Factory and the premise got me perfect. Dont read this novel if you are afraid of spiders :) Bridget Collins captures the Victorian era of industrial progress and social disharmony with perfection. The poverty, the lack of workplace regulations, the dismissal of the poor as having rights, the abuse of children within the workplace. It’s all here, in technicolour sobriety. I love how she brings this era to life, highlighting the corruption and greed that drove so many on their quest for wealth and status. And of course what drew me to the title was the relationship between Harry and Edwards!

"Silence is not only silence, sir, it is attention – it is sanity."

In 1820, Sophia Ashmore-Percy and her husband James arrive on a remote Greek island, where he's searching for a very rare spider, the discovery of which he believes will make him famous. As his desperation grows, Sophia settles in, becoming friends with a mysterious local woman, Hira, who will ultimately change Sophia's beliefs about life and love.

Decades later, James' relative Sir Edward, has created something extraordinary. Using the silk made by the spiders James brought back to England, a new kind of fabric is made, one that reflects sound and causes total silence if someone is surrounded by it.

Audiologist Henry Latimer arrives at Sir Edward's mansion, having been invited to see if he can help his deaf daughter, Philomel to hear. But it's the silk that fascinates Henry, and he's slowly drawn into Sir Edward's orbit, believing the silk to be a miracle, even if manufacturing it causes great harm.

I was a tad disappointed with this book because I loved 'The Binding' and 'The Betrayals'. The concept is wonderful but the pace is particularly slow. I wanted a bit more of the magic realism, which I felt was kind of muted. I enjoyed the flashbacks to Sophia's diary of her time on the island the most.

Henry is a weak character for most of the book, too eager to please Sir Edward. However, he does kind of redeem himself so there is that. Sir Edward is an awful man who doesn't care who he hurts if he can produce his expensive magical silk.

When a book is described as gothic, I expect it to have a lot of tension and to be quite dark, both elements of which were absent for me in 'The Silence Factory'. I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it but in the end, I don't think it was for me. That said, I would still read anything else from this author because I loved her previous two books so much.

https://lynns-books.com/2024/05/16/the-silence-factory-by-bridget-collins/
3.5 of 5 stars
My Five Word TL:DR Review : My feelings are all over

I will say that Bridget Collins has a lovely way with words and can set a scene really well. On top of that she’s a skilled author when it comes to blending historical settings and magical realism and her stories usually have a central mystery that hooks you and keeps you reading.

The Silence Factory is a period novel told over two timelines, one relayed in diary format by Sophie Ashmore Percy as she trails round the Greek islands with her husband in his relentless pursuit of mythical creatures and the other, set decades later, narrated by a widower called Henry Latimer, an audiologist who becomes wrapped up in the schemes of Sir Edward Ashmore Percy (the great, great? nephew of Sophie) and his relentless pursuit of money.

Sir Edward’s family made their money from lace but Edward has spent the wealth converting the family’s factory and setting up to spin silk instead. Telverton silk is quite remarkable, it contains qualities that seem to nullify noise, however these remarkable traits must be weighed against the strange madness that its production seems to induce, the tremendous production costs and the overall ill effects that Telverton seems to suffer as a result. Edward has over stretched and his situation is now dire, he needs backers. This is where Henry enters the scheme. Henry is employed by his father in law, working out of a shop in London. The two make for a very melancholy scene. One having lost his daughter, the other his wife. There’s an unspeakable sadness until Sir Andrew appears in the shop. Sir Andrew’s daughter is deaf but he believes she can be cured. This is when Henry meets Sir Andrew and seems to become almost instantly beguiled – simply by a kind gesture. To cut a long story short Henry soon finds himself travelling to Telverton to stay at Sir Edward’s mansion and to try and help his daughter. After a rather unexpected outburst by Henry one evening in front of a prospective backer Sir Edward begins to see potential in the young man helping him to market his silk and so begins their strange relationship.

On the face of it this book has everything I love and then some. And, I confess, I was keen to keep reading, intrigued by the mystery. There is the gothic goodness, the whole setting of Telverton in fact plays into this with it’s oppressive feel. There’s the dual timeline and the diary chapters. In fact I loved the chapters where we jumped to Greece. It has such a different feel. This tiny, sun soaked village with its traditions and sparkling waters. Another setting easily brought to life by Collins.

What worked for me. The writing. So eloquent. This is an author that can set a scene that will burst to life in your mind as you read.

The mystery. Although it feels a little that we don’t fully explore the full potential of this particular intrigue it did keep me reading.

There’s an exploration here of the social issues of the time. The conditions that people worked in. The dangers of the factories. The fact that children were scurrying about cleaning the underneath of dangerous equipment. The blatant disparity and dispassion between the haves and the have nots. Also the treatment of women and the clear depiction that whether wealthy or not, most women had few choices and little voice.

Unfortunately, most of the characters didn’t work for me at all. I’m not going to turn this into a character assasination but Henry, his actions just defied belief. I do understand that he was grieving and lonely, but I just couldn’t come to terms with him at all in fact I totally ran out of patience. Edward, well you could understand his motives, greed and power, and he was just your basic arrogant, self-serving, over-priveledged, selfish horror. Although, now I’m talking myself into a corner because as I write this review I can see that the author has written here three men who badly let their wives down and so clearly they’re not supposed to be likable – but, it’s a gamble isn’t it because whilst I love a good baddie, I do find it difficult to read an entire story without having any characters to root for. Okay, Sophie isn’t a bad character, but at the same time her involvement is a little sparse, I would have loved more of her chapters. The governess of Sir Edward’s daughter was an interesting character but her own reticence made it difficult to latch onto her. (Although I loved the addition of the cousin who looked so much like her – that had a WIlkie Collins vibe for me).

Overall, this is an intriguing story. I loved the period setting and the writing is beautiful. I felt the storyline of the spiders and the silk was a little under explored. I enjoyed the highlight on the social aspects and particularly the plight of the females in this story and the unflinching way that the author doesn’t try to change this in some way – yes, she could have given these women more agency, they could have acted more assertively – and yet, in actual fact, no they couldn’t, they were all of them, always conscious of the lack of choices that they really had.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars

I loved The Binding so was really looking forward to reading this - if anything I enjoyed The Silence Factory even more! The central premise was intriguing and the story was beautifully told. I was a little worried that the thought of all those spiders would keep me awake at night but we don't actually see that much of them in the story. Their silk sounds amazing though!

The Silence Factory” by Bridget Collins promises a compelling narrative with its intertwining timelines and exotic locales. However, despite its lyrical prose and atmospheric beauty, the novel falls short due to lengthy chapters that drag the story and an overabundance of superfluous descriptions.

However, it still offers a captivating journey for those who appreciate lush prose and intricate storytelling. With its blend of mystery, romance, and familial drama, the novel presents a compelling exploration of the enduring power of secrets and the quest for understanding across generations.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins, UK for ARC in exchange of an honest review.

I was fascinated by this novel, the descriptions of the silk production and the mysteries behind the facade.
There's myth, there's secrets, there's a lot of fascinating details and complex characters.
An intriguing and engaging story I loved.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Synopsis—-Henry dreams of silence.
A world without the clattering of carriages through cobbled streets, the distant cries of drunken brawls, the relentless ticking of the clock.
Then he meets a fascinating, mysterious gentleman who sells just that. Precious silk that can drown out the clamour of the world – and everything Henry is so desperate to escape.
Summoned to Sir Edward’s secluded factory to try to cure his young daughter’s deafness, Henry is soon drawn deeper and deeper into the origins of this otherworldly gift: a gift that has travelled from ancient Mediterranean glades to English libraries.
Ignoring repeated warnings from the girl's secretive governess, he allows himself to fall under the spell of Sir Edward and his silk… but when he learns its true cost, will it be too late to turn back?

My thoughts ….. two stories evolve in this gothic historical novel . Sophia Ashmore Percy in 1820 who travels to Greece with her husband James who wants to find unusual specimens . Also that of Henry Latimer a widow who many years later works with his father in law as an audiologist .
Sir Edward has a daughter who is deaf and enrols Henry to assist him help her .
Henry calls for Edward
Silk produced by spiders have a magical effect . It all begins to unravel, the truth , the abuse and the tragedy’s . A fantastical , gothic historical land of the spiders!

This gothic novel weaves fantasy and magic into a 19th century setting, where spiders weave silk that can bring complete, or a descent into madness. The story takes place across two timelines: one in which we follow Sophia Ashmore Percy and her husband James’ exploration of a remote Greek island. Though they had gone in search of a scientist that had made a remarkable discovery, they arrive to find him dead. While James tries to uncover the secrets of the island’s spiders, Sophia is the first one to find one: throughout her burgeoning relationship with a woman named Hira. This is one storyline I would have loved to see a little more of! I really enjoyed the time spent on this timeline, uncovering the mystery and origin of the spiders and their silk.

The second timeline takes place years later, and follows Henry Latimer, a grieving widow who feels unmoored after the loss of his wife and newborn daughter. Henry discovers the magical silk when Edward Ashmore Percy steps into his shop looking for a device to restore his daughter’s hearing. Mesmerised and impressed by the silk’s power, Henry leaps at the chance to travel to Ashmore Percy’s residence, and meet with his daughter personally. There, Henry begins to unravel the true secrets behind this mystical silk and the factory that manufactures it, as well as the cost for that silence.

The theme of silence is interwoven throughout the novel, which I think is why it works so well as a Victorian gothic. There’s a tension thrumming through this novel, and you’ll want to uncover the secrets of the Telverton Silk as much as Henry Latimer does. ALL of its secrets....!

I have loved all of Bridget Collins novels and this one did not disappoint either.

I loved the duel timeline and it was very well written. Who doesn't love a Victorian gothic?!

✨REVIEW✨
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Title: The Silence Factory
Author: Bridget Collins
Genre: Gothic Suspense

I found this a slow book to grasp my attention, I felt the mystery sustained the momentum of reading as I was intrigued.

This is a gothic suspense novel about a powerful family, the magical and dangerous silk their fortune is built on and their exploitative history that they desire to hide.

It has dual story lines in two different times. There’s the 1820’s where Sophia reluctantly accompanies her husband to a Greek island in search of rare biological species.

Decades later we have Henry, an audiologist who visits Sir Edward’s home tasked with curing his daughter’s deafness.

The silence factory is a historical gothic mystery which was slow and incredibly descriptive but has so much mystery throughout the book. The ending picked up in pace and I felt the ending tied together nicely.

Many thanks to Net Galley and HarperCollins for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

Publication date: 9th May 2024

Historical fiction with doses of fantasy and a gothic atmosphere- this novel had a magical combination of genres.
Bridget Collins’s books are always written in an absolutely unique voice. She manages to write in a hauntingly beautiful way that really elevates the messages in her novels. Especially with the focus on silence in this book, you can tell that she understands the power that words and speech hold.

Unfortunately I couldn't get into this story. The writing was beautiful but I was struggling to picture anything as the descriptions are so detailed and metaphorical. I think this could work for other people but personally I couldn't finish it or make it very far into the plot.

Really enjoyed this book, I loved the unique premise and the beautiful writing of Bridget Collins, very captivating story and enjoyed the dual timeline and seeing the two different sides to the story

I need to get me a copy of this book (read this one on Netgalley). I'm a bit sad that it doesn't look like her previous two, but I still need this. The writing was astounding, just what I remember from The Binding! As soon as I started reading it sucked me in. If you're after a lyrical (but not flowery) writing that just flows perfectly, pick this up. The atmosphere was built beautifully, I felt transported, and even though we only get a fraction of the time spent with Sophia, I really felt connected to her. Collins' way of writing the inside of our characters' heads is incredible. I can't remember the last time I had to put a book down because of his disgusted I was with a character, but James took the flipping cake with that one. Trigger warning here for miscarriage and very visceral depiction of the aftermath of it. I just really felt like I was living her life.
I love how complex both plotlines were. I took my time with this one but it also felt like it flew by. The descriptions of silence, and how well true silence could help the world, was so genius. But then also Worsley's side of how silence can 'help' was very true. There are two sides to each coin. I really thought something was up with Edward, however that felt a little bit too open-ended for me. Realistic, but open-ended.

Fantastic story and characters but OMG if you are in any way nervous or scared of spiders, this novel is FULL of the buggers.
Central to plot but I am still scratching and looking around me.
Guess it's a good book if it makes me feel like this!

“The imposition of silence upon on oneself may be a good; the imposition of it on anyone else is always an evil.”

I read about 85% of this in one day because I was caught in its web. Brilliantly plotted, gothic, lush, rich with poetry and description, heavy with foreshadowing and meaning. This is a book about power, and the implicit evil of exerting power over other people.

It is a book laden with silences, with pockets and lulls where the meaning is most impactful - never have I ever been more aware of repetition as a tool for delivering meaning than each time I read the phrase “there was a silence.” I haven’t read - yet - any of Bridget Collins’ work, and I certainly will be from now on.

The novel is set into two timelines, one in Victorian England with Henry, and one during the 1820’s in Greece, with Sophia Ashmore-Percy as our narrator. The story unfolds as we follow Henry’s descent into a complex web of illusions, power and lies at the heart of Telverton mill, where a new kind of silk is being made. In Sophia’s timeline, we see where the spiders producing this silk comes from, where the disaster in Henry’s timeline is foreshadowed and where Sophia connects deeply with Hira, a woman on the island as she experiences her own private revelation.

In Henry’s timeline, we follow his chance encounter with Edward Ashmore-Percy; who we soon come to realise is descended from Sophia and James in the earlier timeline. Working as an aurist with his father-in-law, Henry winds up travelling to Edward’s home in Telverton in an attempt to help his daughter, who was born deaf, recover some part of her hearing. Instantly, he is embroiled in his own feelings about Edward, the discovery of the ‘site I be ’ spiders and the power of their silk, their webs and the ‘echoes’ heard from their webs. Telverton silk banishes sound on one side, and on the other created and distorts sound, creating ‘echoes’ which have driven half the town to despair, deafness and violence. The factory is considered an abomination on the town by some, its workers go deaf as a result of the auditory disturbances of the silk and the machines, and we meet key side characters who are seeking retribution for harm that’s befallen their families.

Sure, there are great swathes of the book where “nothing” happens - I would counter this with a suggestion that this is a book about listening to the quieter moments for the truths they harbour. As the moments where we see Henry’s slice of life is where I think we see Henry truly in the thrall of his own heart, the seduction of the silk, and the metaphorical web he’s caught in. These are moments where he is given small keys to unlock the truths of Telverton, and where we see him mentally shove them aside. The spiders are known - from Sophia’s timeline - to weave webs which entice their prey, using melodies which act upon the soul to enchant, lure their prey which goes willingly to its destruction into the heart of the web, the most dangerous - for Henry, Cathermute House is the web, and Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy is the centre, the heart. Whether or not what he felt was love for Edward, Henry’s is a tale of someone that many of us have been. Someone willing to be ignorant for comfort, to wilfully put aside the misgivings of our truer nature because we didn’t want to believe wrongness about someone we held dear; or to accept these things would be to ruin a fantasy for ourselves, to harm our own happiness even if it is fake.

Do I agree with the decisions that Henry makes for most of this story? No. But I understand his mindset; he is a lonely and desperate widower, seeking a new start. He convinces himself that Edward is this opportunity, and so forcibly rewrites the truths he sees around him that could endanger that narrative. However I loved his arc, his opportunity for redemption, and his journey and am wholly satisfied with where he ends up!

In Sophia’s timeline, I adored the unfurling of the relationship that began to emerge between Sophia and Hira, a woman on the remote island she and her husband James travel to, on his quest to discover the spiders he’d been researching with a counterpart - who’s ended up deceased when they arrive onto the island. James is a character who, rightly and deliberately, incensed me. I hated him and the recognition of the comment that Collins used him to make. He belittled Sophia, negated her every feeling and intelligence, he was self-centred, egotistical, convinced of his own right to whatever he wanted - including the spiders. Sophia’s narrative is a bright squall of female suffering, of being made into a shape smaller than you should be because that’s what the world has told you is right. Sophia is, in Hira’s words, a “maggot-woman”, waiting to be hatched. To be free. I adored and despaired for Sophia, but loved her quiet rebellion, and just wished her story ended differently. She was bright, but dimmed by James, a story too often seen in reality; her experiences with Hira where liberating, and I wish she had more of them.

I personally would have LOVED more development in Sophia’s narrative - it felt towards the middle of the book that her story was used more as a tool to show the power of the spiders, how they’re revered and respected in their home, to contrast the ugly use of them for silk and profit in Telverton. And while this makes sense, I was connected to Sophia and Hira, I felt like they should have had more time on the page to breathe. Hira and Sophia’s connection was soul-deep, and I wanted more of it. I would have loved an more equal weighting between these timelines - I wanted to know what happened to Sophia in the latter parts of their time on the island. I wanted to know why Sophia hastily left, how James managed to hastily secure more spiders, enough to breed them, when Hira had so rightly accused him of disrespect, of exploiting them, of taking without thought:

“Oh you men, your religions are all the same. You ask for stories of the old gods, and look down your white nose at us as though we believed them all, and think yourself superior.”

I can’t help but read this as a cry against the patriarchal desire to take, control, dominate. Sure, I’m biased towards finding and appreciating this as a theme whenever I’m reading work because it was my choice of topic for the latter parts of my university experience - the presence of eco feminism in literature and the exploration of this in fiction. But this is an angry and vengeful book. It is one that explores the consequences of greed and tyranny, of taking something which is sacred from its home and exploiting it for profit - the spiders are a lens through which the real world is played out.

And through characters like Mercy, we see the lengths that many will go to in order to protect and avenge harm done to those they love - and the denial of suffering to suit profit. Through characters like Philomel, Edward’s daughter we see the attempt to force conformity and the silencing of his daughters truth, her deafness, and the origin of her deafness. Through characters like Worsley and Sir Edward, we see the causal oppression of women, children, anyone not deemed on the same ‘level’ as these men. Henry himself, is assumed to be subservient to Edward, his emotions manipulated for Edward’s gain - even I was hooked along, at the beginning - and Worsley is a man who will inflict pain and suffering upon anyone for the pleasure of it, for the control of it. The silk’s natural qualities are bastardised in the hands of these men, something dangerous but naturally occurring which needed to be respected was twisted into a tool that would have been all about manipulation, oppression and control.

Silence is imposed on so many levels in this book, and in so many ways. The literal silence of the workers in the factory, wrought by the machines and the production of the silk; the silence imposed upon the people who attempt to speak out against the factory, and to Sir Edward for the harm it’s doing; the silence that Henry imposes on himself, about his past, his pain. The silence forced upon Sophia by her husband, the denial of her thoughts and feelings, and the subsequent solace she finds in Hira. The silence of the soul, the erasure of self, that Edward and Worsley are attempting. And ultimately, the silence of history, when so many times it is the wrong people telling it.

There are many, many layers to this book - so many of which I can only begin to unpick, though I enjoyed them all. This is a feat of storytelling. A rich and challenging story, one of silences that are so often overbearingly loud. I cannot wait to dive into Bridget Collins’ backlist, and will be buying her books from now on!

Thank you to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you Netgalley for the free ARC of The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book really intrieging. It's not a genre I often pick up, but every time I do, I sit and wonder why I'm letting myself miss out.
The Silence Factory is told in 2 parts; we follow Henry, a widow who is eager to please a man who produces revolutionary silk that blocks all noise, and Sophia, the wife of the man who brought spiders back from Greece to make his fortune.

Pros:
- This book kept me guessing all the way. The thought that has gone into how the silk works is so in depth. If I saw this in a NatGeo doc I would probably just g0 "Yeah, checks out."
- Expertly creepy. I like spiders, and even I was itching with the pure vides this novel exudes.

Cons:
- I would hat ATE every part of this, but damn the ending just soured it. The Henry reveal had me screaming "What?!" and not in the best way, though I will put that down to personal tastes.

4.0 stars

A unique, somewhat gothic novel witch each half telling different stories.
The first story follows a woman who travels to a remote Greek island to meet a scientist friend only to find he is dead.
The second story follows an audiologist who sells ear trumpets who’s life changed forever when a customer, purchasing an ear trumpet for his deaf daughter, gifts him a piece of cloth.


I found this novel to be so well written, very unique and page turning.

The authors use of language was well executed and very intriguing.

Thank you to the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this ARC for free in exchange for my honest review.