In her debut novel, Abbie Greaves breathes life into a tale of love, sorrow, guilt, and secrets. This beautifully written story of marriage through the years is both uplifting and heartbreaking, sometimes at the very same time.
In the first pages, we are introduced to Maggie under rather extreme circumstances. She is sitting in the kitchen opening multiple sleeping pill capsules, preparing to take them all, but at the same time she is preparing her husband’s dinner. The fact that her husband Frank has no idea anything is amiss until the smoke alarm goes off, signalling that his now-unattended dinner is burning, immediately clues the reader in to the current state of this marriage.
Frank finds Maggie’s body and summons emergency help, forever thankful that she is unconscious, and has not died. At the hospital, Frank is encouraged to talk to Maggie, as people in comas are often reported to respond to their loved ones’ voices.
As Frank begins to speak to his wife of many years, we find out these are the first words he has spoken to her in six months. They didn’t have a fight, and he is not angry, but he has not spoken a word to this woman, the love of his life, in six whole months.
Why? Well, that is the beauty of Greaves’s novel. Frank is explaining himself to Maggie at the same time he is explaining the situation to us. Maggie herself does not even know why her loving husband has not spoken a word to her in half a year.
We come to know Maggie through Frank’s eyes as he recounts the history of their courtship, relationship, and marriage with all its ups, downs, hardships, and celebrations. Through interruptions, worries, insecurities, and sorrow, Frank talks to Maggie, reopening the connection that had been closed off. His unconditional love for her becomes obvious as he speaks, praying his voice and his words will reach her.
In a unique storytelling device, Greaves later flips the script a bit and (without giving any spoilers), she finds a way for the reader to see Frank through Maggie’s eyes so that we can know these two characters inside and out. We see them as they see themselves, but also the way they are each seen by someone who truly knows and loves them. It is raw and honest, and makes for a very intimate story, as if your best friend was letting you in on the secrets of her own marriage.
I haven’t let go of Maggie or Frank yet. Truthfully, I have read two other books since I finished The Silent Treatment, but my mind is still returning to this couple. I have recommended this book more times than I can count (and will be continuing to do so!) It is moving and emotional, and somehow it is also tragic and uplifting. It is a tremendous understatement to say that I can’t wait to find out how Abbie Greaves follows up this incredible debut.
The Silent Treatment is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of April 7th 2020.
Will you be picking up The Silent Treatment? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Resonant with the emotional power of the bestselling novels of David Nicholls and Jojo Moyes, a rich and poignant debut about lies, loss, and a transcendent love at the heart of a troubled marriage.
A lifetime together. Six months of silence. One last chance.
By all appearances, Frank and Maggie share a happy, loving marriage, But for the past six months they have not spoken. Not a sentence. Not a single word. Maggie isn’t sure what, exactly, provoked Frank’s silence though she has a few ideas.
Day after day, they have eaten meals together and slept in the same bed in an increasingly uncomfortable silence that has become, for Maggie, deafening.
Then Frank finds Maggie collapsed in the kitchen, unconscious, an empty package of sleeping pills on the table. Rushed to the hospital, she is placed in a medically induced coma while the doctors assess the damage.
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?
