The storyline is so interesting and I learnt a lot as well as enjoy the book. I have always loved history so it was a shame that I didn’t have the same passion for historical fiction. The books that I have read set in the past have been boring and slow-paced which put me off the genre – however, this book has completely changed my opinion!Įven though I don’t have much to compare it too, so this review may be slightly biased, I still believe that The Quietness is a great novel. I haven’t had much luck with historical fiction so accepting The Quietness for review was a risk. THE QUIETNESS is a novel of friendship and trust in the darkest of settings. Soon the girls’ lives become irrevocably entwined in this tension-filled drama. She thinks she has finally found a man to fall in love with and rely on, but when Jacob cruelly betrays her she finds herself once again at the mercy of her cold-hearted father. Meanwhile, lonely and unloved sixteen-year-old Ellen is delighted when her handsome and charming young cousin Jacob is sent to live with her family. Initially thrilled at being taken on as a maid for the seemingly respectable Waters sisters, Queenie comes to realise that something is very wrong with the dozens of strangely silent babies being ‘adopted’ into the household.

When fifteen-year-old Queenie escapes from the squalid slums of nineteenth-century London, she has no idea about the dangers of the dark world she is about to become embroiled in.

The Quietness by Alison Rattle