Hi, it’s Dienece Darling here offering a book review of the split time romance Echoes of a Silent Song by Amanda Wen.
Book Description:
When a choral composer and conductor falls victim to creative block, he resorts to his fallback plan of teaching high school choir. Callum Knight’s goal at Peterson High is simple: rediscover his muse, extract himself from teaching, and get back to Boston as quickly as possible.
As the long-suffering accompanist at the high school, Peterson-native Blair Emerson has watched the revolving door of choir directors and their negative impact on her choirs over the last few years. She is less than impressed when a disheveled Callum stumbles in on his first day.
But then they discover an unsigned, unfinished, and handwritten choral composition by a clear musical genius. Blair recalls rumors of Iris, a Peterson student from the 1970s who composed music but was found dead during her senior year. Blair and Callum work to determine if the piece is hers, and the truth they uncover shakes both of them to the core.
With rhythm and flair, Amanda Wen takes readers on an unexpected journey into the depths of a small town’s history in this riveting first book in the Melodies and Memories duology.
Dienece’s Book Review
The first line of this book made me laugh.
“Blair Emerson couldn’t recall ever praying for patience.” Echoes of a Silent Song by Amanda Wen
It’s that just the way? If you pray for patience, God gives you situations to practice your patience. And yet, there are times I could swear I didn’t remember paying for patience!
The start of the book is fun and light-hearted which helps to balance out the heavier themes later.
Blair and the hero of the story get off on the wrong foot. Of course, he’s confused what he did. Blair is positive she’s nailed this flake of a man square on the head with her first impression. And of course, she hasn’t.
As the story progresses, you get to see what has happened to Blair to taint her view of the world. And Callum has his own hard past which dogs him every step. How does he come back when he has lost so much?
Callum is actually really nice when he remembers not to be so grumpy. 🙂 But he’s got a pretty good reason for being grumpy, and he loves music. It’s his love and passion for music which first started to make me like him.
The love of music features quite strongly in this book, and it’s written beautifully. One can almost hear it as you read the words, and it talks a lot about how music can be such a healing thing and bring people together.
One thing you learn is first impressions aren’t everything.
What you think you know, you don’t really–even about Blair. There is a lot of depth to this book, which brings up the themes discussed.
Themes in the book
I knew coming into this book that a teenage girl dies, and there are a lot of heavy topics. It deals with suicide both in the past and present day. It also deals with depression and abuse, so the start of the book may be a laugh, but it goes really deep.
These hard topics are handled with grace and a lot of sensitivity. And I think that’s because the author writes from personal experience.
I first heard about Echoes of a Silent Song when it was on Deena Adam’s giveaway blog (where, by the way, I won a e-copy of this book!). Amanda Wen shared her own journey with depression. You can read about the interview here. (And why not check out Deena’s blog while you’re there? She hosts a lot of giveaways of Christian fiction in various genres.)
I think having an author who struggles with the issue made a huge difference in how it comes across.
My favourite scene
One scene really stuck with me. It was the girl in the past watching the pulling of the draft for the boys being sent to Vietnam. I’d heard it described as a lotto before, but I’d never really imagined what it would have been like to watch it on TV. Amanda made this come to life for me. I could really see it, feel the devastation, the unfairness that out of 365 days, they pulled your birthday to be drafted. I love it when an author makes history come alive like that. Amanda did that so well in this scene and in so many others too.
My final thoughts
I love Amanda’s style of writing. It’s vivid and alive. Her characters are real. They make mistakes, but they are also likeable and memorable. They stick with you. Why not check out a preview of the book below?
Hi Dienece, I’ve heard great things about this book and I’ve appreciated reading your thoughts. It’s on my wish list. Thanks for sharing your insightful review. 😊
My pleasure! Hope you get a chance to read it.