The Silent Boy, Andrew Taylor
The Silent Boy, Andrew Taylor
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The Silent Boy

Author: Andrew Taylor

Narrator: Leon Williams

Unabridged: 12 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 08/28/2014

Synopsis

From the No. 1 bestselling author of THE AMERICAN BOY comes a brilliant new historical thriller set during the French Revolution. Selected as Historical Novel of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times, and picked as one of Radio 4’s Crime Books of the Year. Paris, 1792. Terror reigns as the city writhes in the grip of revolution. The streets run with blood as thousands lose their heads to the guillotine. Edward Savill, working in London as agent for a wealthy American, receives word that his estranged wife Augusta has been killed in France. She leaves behind ten-year-old Charles, who is brought to England to Charnwood Court, a house in the country leased by a group of émigré refugees. Savill is sent to retrieve the boy, though it proves easier to reach Charnwood than to leave. And only when Savill arrives there does he discover that Charles is mute. The boy has witnessed horrors beyond his years, but what terrible secret haunts him so deeply that he is unable to utter a word?

About Andrew Taylor

Andrew Taylor is the author of a number of crime novels, including the groundbreaking Roth Trilogy, which was adapted into the acclaimed TV drama Fallen Angel, and the historical crime novels The Ashes of London, The Silent Boy, The Scent of Death, and The American Boy, a No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller and a 2005 Richard & Judy Book Club Choice.

He has won many awards, including the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger, an Edgar Scroll from the Mystery Writers of America, the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Award (the only author to win it three times), and the CWA's prestigious Diamond Dagger, awarded for sustained excellence in crime writing. He also writes for the Spectator and the Times.

He lives with his wife, Caroline, in the Forest of Dean.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill on October 23, 2014

As we know - or ought to anyway - Taylor is far & away the finest living author of historical crime fiction & easily amongst the top English novelists full stop. Our story begins in August 1792 with the Parisian mob sacking the Tuileries, which marked the descent of the French Revolution into its wo......more

Goodreads review by Manda on April 02, 2015

Andrew Taylor is one of our greatest living historical novelists... no, scratch the historical, he's one of our greatest living novelists, period. Always inspiring, his sense of time and place are impeccable and, as ever, the inexorable draw from apparent-normality into a world of increasing danger......more

Goodreads review by Keith on June 23, 2015

A superb companion volume to the author's The Scent of Death, with that novel's protagonist Arthur Savill ten years older and now dealing with the son of his unfaithful wife who has perished in revolutionary Paris. The boy has been traumatised by apparently witnessing the brutal act and now refuses......more

Goodreads review by Paula on January 19, 2015

Another stunning book from Andrew Taylor. I really enjoyed the continuing story of Edward Savill, who is a terrific character. Such satisfying books!......more

Goodreads review by Ann on September 11, 2018

Wow! A historical thriller set during the French Revolution that just built and built to a frenetic finish. Edward Savill learns that his estranged wife been killed in France and left behind a 10-year-old son. It seems a simple enough task for Edward to fetch the boy that has been brought to England b......more

Quotes

Praise for The Silent Boy: ‘In this taut thriller, Andrew Taylor deftly weaves unobtrusive historical research with a page-turning plot’ The Times, Books of the Year ‘Great tale, great history, great Taylor’ Radio 4, Crime Books of the Year ‘Taylor has not only succeeded in constructing a labyrinthine plot that is gripping to the last page, but he also created an entirely believable child, traumatised but resolute, whose plight is the fuel for true suspense’ Guardian ‘As a writer, Taylor wears his learning lightly and shares with Hilary Mantel the capacity to take the reader directly into a vanished world’ Times Literary Supplement ‘Taylor is a wonder; once again he marries flawlessly integrated historical detail … and a knotty and involving mystery as strong as anything in the historical crime fiction field. I suspect Taylor should start clearing a space next to his current writing trophies’ Financial Times ‘Don’t keep quiet about The Silent Boy. Tell everyone: it’s a really excellent page-turning thriller set in a fascinating period in Anglo-French history’ Robert Goddard ‘Many elements of The Silent Boy bring Dickens … It is utterly gripping, extremely well executed and suspenseful to the last’ Spectator 'Taylor's mastery of plot and character show to great effect in a story that has a depth few other historical crime novels can match' Sunday Times 'I enjoyed this book very much indeed. I found the evocation of late 18th Century England, and the French exiles, effortlessly authentic, the hunt for Charles gripping, and the portrayal and first-person narrative of the helpless, traumatised, yet strong and resourceful little boy moving and believable. An excellent work.' C J Sansom, author of Revelation ‘A gripping and atmospheric thriller – the perfect blend of dark suspense, appealing characters and fascinating history. I loved it!’ Antonia Hodgson, author of The Devil in the Marshalsea

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