Silence is a Sense (Paperback) - Layla AlAmmar

A SUNDAY TIMES STYLE RECOMMEND

'Lyrical, moving, revealing' TRACY CHEVALIER

'Brilliant' NIKITA LALWANI

'Such beautiful writing... A little bit Rear Window, a little bit Home Fire, a little bit Shameless. I loved it' LOUISA YOUNG

'Daring and devastating' FIONA MOZLEY

A young woman spends her days watching the neighbours through their windows. She is a refugee, who has seen the failure of the Arab Spring in her homeland and who has been traumatized into silence by her brutal journey from Syria to Britain.

As an outsider, a mute voyeur, she sees everything, she hears everything: the love, the fighting, the families, the secrets, the lies, the sex, the shame. Slowly drawn into the community that surrounds her, she begins to come to terms with all she has lost. After a brutal attack on the local mosque, she realises she is the only witness to the truth behind the violence. But will she finally speak of all she's seen?

Rear Window meets Exit West, this beautifully written novel tells the powerful story of one woman's trauma and her gradual healing.

About the Author

Layla AlAmmar grew up in Kuwait, with an American mother and a Kuwaiti father. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh. Her work has appeared in the Evening Standard, Quail Bell Magazine and Aesthetica Magazine, where she was a finalist for the Creative Writing Award 2015. She currently lives in Kuwait. The Pact We Made is her debut novel.