Silent Melody

"Silent Melody" is the follow-up to the book "Heartless" by Mary Balogh and has the same cast of characters, although this time the hero is Lord Ashley Kendrick and the heroine is Lady Emily Marlowe. Set in 1763 (i.e. before the Regency period) the story begins with Lady Emily on the verge of becoming engaged to one of her suitors. She is 22 years old and feels it is time to leave the safe and protective arms of her family - her sister Anna the Duchess of Harndon and her husband Luke, the main characters in "Heartless". It was nice to revisit these characters who have been rather prolific in procreating - at the beginning of the story they have just had their fourth child. Anyway, Emily has given up on Lord Ashley, although she still loves him. Not only has he been away in India for seven years but he's also married with a son. And then as she is on the verge of being proposed to by a suitor, Lord Ashley appears in the ballroom, back from India unexpectedly. But Lord Ashley has secrets. No longer is his life the relatively uncomplicated life of a younger son in the East India Company - his marriage is not what it seemed and he is riven with feelings of guilt and shame. And then he adds to his problems - and to Emily's - one evening and yet he can't seem to make amends. Emily has her own forcefulness, her own ideas of behaviour and she doesn't necessarily do what is expected of ladies of her station. Of course Emily is unusual - she is a deaf mute and therefore can't communicate particularly clearly and isn't always sure what is going on around her. Mary Balogh has written this character in an amazing way, showing although she has apparent disabilities she is able to live her life and to see value and wonder that others miss. I very much enjoyed her conversations with Ashley, the only person who really understands what she means a lot of the time and who can truly have a meeting of minds. As usual in a Mary Balogh novel there's a baddie who initially seems like a goodie and it seems that things that appear to be random events are evidence of a darker hand at work. But the real triumph of this book is the way in which Emily is able to grow up and take responsibility for herself and how she is able to help Ashley to heal from the difficulties in his past. They are a very likeable couple and it makes this book a joy to read.

This sequel to the already outstanding Heartless tells us the story of Lord Ashley Kendrick and Lady Emily Marlowe. The premise of their relationship was already hinted at in Heartless, but this book takes off seven years later and explores it in earnest.As a tortured hero, Ashley truly takes after his brother Luke. The seven years he spent away from home didn't bring him the happiness he was looking for, and it's alone and heartbroken that he arrives at Bowden Abbey. His family has changed drastically: his brother, still happily married to Anna Marlowe, is now the father of four children; his sister has settled and gained a lot of maturity. And Emily, the child he used to call his "little fawn", has grown into a woman. A very beautiful and desirable woman, in fact. And the realisation of his blooming feelings for Emily mingles with his jealousy when he sees her being courted by several gentlemen thinking of her as a potential bride.Emily has continued to observe the world from her own silent world. Heartless already gave us a few glimpses of her life as a deaf mute and the inner world she had built for herself, but Silent Melody explores it much more thoroughly, and the atmosphere enveloping the entire story is rendered more fascinating by the frequent introspection from Emily's point of view. She opens her world to Ashley - and to the reader - even though she knows that whatever happened to him in India to make him so sombre will always keep them apart. They can be friends but nothing more, since Ashley never saw in her what she sees in him. He thinks of her as a child still, not as a lover, doesn't he?Silent Melody takes us in a very original and captivating world, where both heroes feel frightened by their feelings. More than in any other romance novel, the misunderstandings never look artificial, thanks to the absence of wordy communication between Ashley and Emily. Mary Balogh does a masterful job of describing each of their private thoughts. The characters' emotions are thrust onto the reader without artifice, and the resulting story is both powerful and heartwrenching. One of the very best!

If you finished reading Balogh's Heartless and longed to know more about Luke and Anna, and longed even more to know what would happen to Anna's deaf-mute sister Emily, you have to read Silent Melody. Here, Balogh gives Emily her own romance, and also allows us to see how Luke and Anna have grown as a couple - their relationship, while in the background, is shown to be mature and solid.Emily has been deaf and mute since a small child, and only Anna, Luke, and particularly Ashley, Luke's younger brother, really understand her when she tries to communicate and make the effort to communicate properly with her. Ashley, however, went away when she was fifteen, and although he subsequently married, she still loves him. Luke, her brother-in-law, understands that, but also wants her to have a home of her own rather than feeling that she has to be dependent on relatives for the rest of her life. Believing that he has her best interests at heart, he tries to find her a husband. But, just as she is about to accept Lord Powell, Ashley comes home...Ashley has been widowed in tragic circumstances, and is now a bitter, guilt-ridden man of thirty. None of his family can get through to him to find out what's going on inside his head... except Emmy, who always understood him years before. Except that he cannot vocalise his feelings any longer, so instead he takes comfort from her in another way.She refuses to marry him, because although she loves him she knows that he doesn't love her and only asked out of a sense of honour. The real problem here is that Ashley's image of Emily is still fixed on the fourteen-year-old child she once was; he is unable for a very long time to acknowledge that she is now a woman, and so he can't allow himself to think of her as a desirable partner instead of his little fawn. He remembers her as a child, and hates himself for adding to his own guilt over what he did to her. There are many themes in this story: inner healing, redemption, the meaning of maturity, and even more important the nature of disability. Emily is the only person who does not consider her deafness a handicap; no matter how well-meaning they are, the rest of her family all consider it an affliction they must help her overcome. Anna by teaching Emily how to behave in society, Luke by teaching her to read and write, Ashley by insisting that she learn to form words and speak. As Emily herself thinks any number of times, perhaps they should learn from her about the qualities of silence. However, Ashley does grow in this respect: he ceases assuming that he knows what's best for her and learns to appreciate her world as well.(So, to the reviewer who made that crass comment about Emily's deafness, I ask: did you read the book? Emily *never* sought special treatment or considered herself pitiful because of her deafness.)The one thing which seemed completely superfluous in this book was the villain plot. It seemed unnecessary; there was more than enough material for Balogh

If emotion is the hallmark of romance, this is without doubt, one of the most romantic novels ever written. Every page, every word is imbued with emotion that will not soon leave you. The hero, Lord Ashley Kendrick, and the heroine, Lady Emily Marlowe, made their first appearance in HEARTLESS (Berkley, September, 1995), and it is easy to see why they demanded their own book. Ashley, twenty-two, bored and restless in England, sets off to make his fortune in the East India Company, leaving behind the fifteen-year-old Emmy. The loss is more severe for the young woman; Ashley is the only person who really understands her. He cared enough to help devise a special sign language for easier communication with Emmy, who was rendered deaf and mute by a fever when she was barely more than a toddler. While in India, Ashley marries and has a son. His arrival back in England, on the night of a ball--to perhaps celebrate the betrothal of Emmy to the eligible Lord Powell--sets in motion a tale of love and intrigue. Ashley, now a widower, finds himself drawn more and more to the young woman who has indeed grown-up during his absence. Only after Emmy has accepted the offer of Lord Powell, does Ashley reveal the deaths of his wife and child. The betrothal is broken, but still the two lovers cannot easily bridge the gap of words--words that one cannot say, and the other cannot hear. If you can read only one book this year, SILENT MELODY should be that one. No exceptions, no quibbles. But--be sure to have a box of tissues handy. If you don't need them, you have no heart.

This book was great. I was really curious when I read the back. A Deaf heroine? I thought that the author did a wonderful job conveying the thoughts of Emmy and I thought the love between her and Ashley was beautiful! They were so in love and yet they both had such strong convictions about not being together for the sake of the other! It was such a touching story! I also love the way the other characters, such as Luke and Anna, were brought in. I plan on reading many more books by Mary Balogh!