Silence — William Carpenter

This dynamic novel from William Carpenter examines the legacy of war and destruction through the eyes of a returning Iraq war veteran, Nick Colonna, a young Maine native who enlisted after 9/11. Home finally, after an attack that has killed his entire unit and left him deaf, Nick struggles to reenter life in his quiet childhood town on the coast of Maine. His disability further isolates him inside the clanging memories in his head, and post-traumatic stress threatens to derail his sanity. He finds solace in memories of better times on Amber Island, a private, undeveloped sanctuary owned for decades by the Fletcher family and protected by the illustrious patriarch, Marsden Fletcher. In a twist of fate (and persuasion), Nick escapes to the solitude of Amber Island and is hired as a caretaker. There he stumbles upon two valuable surprises––an ancient burial mound and the lovely, fragile Julia Fletcher, who pierces his defenses and gives him something to live for, at least for the near future. As Amber Island is threatened by development and Julia and her girlfriend Vira attempt to catalog the destruction of the natural environment, Nick flickers between sanity and madness on a collision course that will leave no one––or the island––the same. In this edgy and ambitious novel, Carpenter asks important questions about how we can best value our past, our friends, and our families and whether or not truth can only ever be found by embracing deep wells of silence.