For fans of A Knight of Silence and Read My Lips comes a YA historical western full of grit and heart...
In 1874, Ivy Steele's deafness is more than a handicap. It's a disease. Surrounded by a family that doesn't understand her, she's learned to cope and find solace where she can. Then, the unexpected happens. Her aunt dies, and her uncle sends her away to rejoin her father's family in Montana.Left to fend for herself, after the companion hired to escort her abandons her, sixteen-year-old Ivy faces continual hardship and danger. Several men see an unaccompanied Ivy as a flower ripe for the picking, and things only get worse when masked men hold up their stagecoach.
Barely scraping through, Ivy makes it to Montana with her nerves shaken and what little money she has in her boot. Expecting a peaceful if not affectionate welcome, Ivy finds herself in greater hardship than she's ever known.
Surrounded by a stepfamily that hates her, and flung into a life where hearing is vital, Ivy finds solace in a handsome cowboy named Remy. But things with her new family are not what they seem. And Ivy is about to find out that the danger she faced on the journey west, has followed her to Montana...
Bethany Swafford dazzles with her stunning young adult debut, introducing a strong heroine, the hardships of frontier life, shocking twists, and a slow-burning romance that will leave you wanting more.
Third place winner of the 2018 Rosemary Award
For as long as she can remember, Bethany Swafford has loved reading books. That love of words extended to writing as she grew older and when it became more difficult to find a ‘clean’ book, she determined to write her own. Among her favorite authors is Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Georgette Heyer.
When she doesn’t have pen to paper (or fingertips to laptop keyboard), she can generally be found with a book in hand. In her spare time, Bethany reviews books for a book site called More Than A Review.
This was one of the most engaging and thoughtful stories I’ve read in a long time.
Told in first person and set in the decade following the
Civil War, this young adult story about a sixteen year-old deaf girl revealed the uncertainties,
misconceptions and trials those with limited or no hearing face, especially
during that time.
Forced from a school for the deaf after her aunt’s death,
Ivy makes the treacherous trip to Montana. To join her father and brother, all
her family left after a fever that took her hearing along with the lives of her
mother and younger sibling. She arrives to find her father remarried to a
difficult woman who knew nothing about her existence. At first, no one wants
her there, she does not want to be there, but she is helpless to do anything
other than make her way in a dysfunctional family that resents her. Even though
her education is evident and she demonstrates her many skills, she is perceived
to be less-valuable. The attitude towards her is such that because she is not wanted, she
should be grateful to be treated like a slave and take what she can get.
Communication is a problem. Although she can speak, because
she cannot hear, Ivy cannot gauge her volume or pitch. She had come from a
school that taught her signing to communicate, but the family makes no effort
to learn signing. She can read lips, but the family tends to turn their backs
or hide their faces behind their hands to hide what they say. She can read and
write, but it is a slow means of communicating. Much of the time she must
deduce what is said through body language, snatches of lip-read words, and facial
expressions—challenges the hearing-impaired no doubt struggle with today.
I loved how the author portrayed her characters as Ivy
gradually learned how to deal with her family. She eventually won several of
them over, including her natural brother who, as a child, was her confidant and
playmate. She also learned to stand up for herself. There is also a sweet,
budding romance in the works, even as Ivy’s step-mother does her best to foist
Ivy off in marriage to a man Ivy easily identified as unsavory.
The story ended too soon for me. I can highly recommend it
to adult readers as well as youth.
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