The Quietness - Alison Rattle

In this novel aimed at young adults, we are transported back to Victorian London. It is 1870, and we meet fifteen-year-old Queenie who has a miserable standard of living in a slum area, sharing a room with her parents and siblings. She decides to leave one day, little realizing what horrors there are in the world beyond the only one she has known so far.

Across London, sixteen-year-old Ellen lives a different life. She has a beautiful home and a privileged existence. However, she is very lonely. Her mother is cold and distant, and her father is equally cold towards her.

The novel follows the fortunes of these two girls, with the author depicting the events that befall them, and the gradual coming together of their lives. The title of the novel is cleverly incorporated into the storyline in several ways. I don’t want to say too much about the main aspect that it refers to, only to mention that Queenie finds a position helping two sisters with babies that women have had to give away because their circumstances don’t allow them to keep them.

The atmosphere of London and life there back then is very well evoked. I felt transported back to the poverty, the dirt and desperation through the character of Queenie, walking alongside her. Ellen experiences loneliness and longs for a family who cares for her and loves her. Queenie has a family who loves her but she longs to improve her life. The frustration and unhappiness of both their lives comes across powerfully and I felt for both characters. As their paths meet, Ellen and Queenie form a firm friendship that is strong and will be key to both their futures.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It deals with friendship, sadness, families, loneliness and a terrible crime. I think that through this story the author offers some telling insights into the awful limitations on a woman’s life back then, having little choice but to behave as men instructed or risk being incarcerated or worse. As an adult reader, I am older than the target audience but I think adults will enjoy this one too. I did guess at some of the secrets in the story before they were revealed, and this possibly lessened the tension a little for me, but nevertheless I still very much enjoyed reading on and discovering the full extent of the twists and turns in the narrative and learning the outcome of the story. 

Published by Hot Key Books

Reviewed as part of the amazon vine programme