The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. A quote from author Kathleen Glasgow reads “a writer to be reckoned with” at the top of the cover in very small, pale orange writing. The title “The Quiet and the Loud” is written down the length of the centre in large lowercase lettering. “Quiet” and “loud” are written in white letters, the rest of the title is written in black lettering. Lower centre right of the cover, a tag line reads “Can she move forward without looking back?” in very small black writing. The author’s name “Helena Fox” is written at the bottom in black capitals. Directly underneath this, text reading “Award-winning author of ‘How It Feels to Float’” in very small black writing. The background shows art of the silhouette of a young woman in a kayak on a large body of water. In the far back of the image, a cityscape can be seen. The sun is above this. It is small, red and covered by a haze of orange clouds. The water is also a dark orange. /end]

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Content Warning:

• References to Reproductive Assault/Coercion
• Pregnancy
• Alcoholism
• Alcohol Consumption and Abuse
• Fire
• Trauma
• Racism
• Abuse (Physical, Emotional, Verbal)
• Manipulation and Gaslighting
• Toxic Relationship

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Summary:

A heartbreaking, hopeful, and timely novel about holding too tight to family secrets, healing from trauma, and falling in love, from the award-winning author of How It Feels to Float

George’s life is loud. On the water, though, with everything hushed above and below, she is steady, silent. Then her estranged dad says he needs to talk, and George’s past begins to wake up, looping around her ankles, trying to drag her under.

But there’s no time to sink. George’s best friend, Tess, is about to become, officially, a teen mom, her friend Laz is in despair about the climate crisis, her gramps would literally misplace his teeth if not for her, and her moms fill the house with fuss and chatter. Before long, heat and smoke join the noise as dis­tant wildfires begin to burn.

George tries to stay steady. When her father tells her his news and the memo­ries roar back to life, George turns to Calliope, the girl who has just cartwheeled into her world and shot it through with colors. And it’s here George would stay—quiet and safe—if she could. But then Tess has her baby, and the earth burns hotter, and the past just will not stay put.

A novel about the contours of friendship, family, forgiveness, trauma, and love, and about our hopeless, hopeful world, Helena Fox’s gorgeous follow-up to How It Feels to Float explores the stories we suppress and the stories we speak—and the healing that comes when we voice the things we’ve kept quiet for so long.

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Notes:

Though it is not the main plot point of the story, this narrative does contain a teen pregnancy subplot. This plot also contains references to the fact that the woman involved may have lied to the father of the baby about being on birth control (she was not) with the sole intention of getting pregnant. This is a form of reproductive coercion/assault that, according to reviews, does not seem to be addressed in the book.

There is an audiobook.

There is an ebook. There is a kindle edition.

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Archivist Comments:

This book is praised for the issues it covers, the way it is written and the “healing, cathartic” story it gives audiences. But the discussions, or lack there of, about the possible reproductive coercion and sexual assault committed by one side character have obviously left a bit of a sour taste with reviewers.

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