Bibliographical information:

Mahy, Margaret. The Other Side of Silence. New York: Viking Penguin, 1995.

Brief summary:

Hero Rapper is the daughter of a child development expert whose book Average-Wonderful has made her a star. Hero, however, has retreated into silence: voluntary mutism. The novel takes place as her older sister returns from four years abroad, where she has been crashing cars in a demolition derby. As crisis brews at home, Hero's job helping care for the garden of neighbor Miss Credence takes a turn into the strange, and Hero begins to realize that Miss Credence is not merely odd, but possibly mad and also dangerous.

Comments:

This is an intersting but troubling book. While Hero's family addresses some of their issues, Mahy doesn't resolve their relationships neatly. And Miss Credence and her secrets are extremely disturbing. The first indication of serious trouble is her shooting of a stray cat, but later she turns out to have secretly borne and imprisoned a daughter.

Grade/Age level:

 Age ten and up.

Cautions:

As I've noted above, this book has very disturbing elements, and they don't get tidied up neatly at the novel's end. Miss Credence is violent, shooting a cat, assaulting her daughter and Hero, and ultimately shooting herself. My daughter found and read this book before I did. She liked it reasonably well, but found it disturbing. If I'd read it first, I might have suggested that she hold off on reading it for awhile.

--Lisa Gordis

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