calturner posted: " I'm excited to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for excellent historical novel A Sign Of Her Own by Sarah Marsh. Thank you to Anne Cater and Tinder Press for giving me the opportunity to read and review thi" Cal Turner Reviews
I'm excited to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for excellent historical novel A Sign Of Her Own by Sarah Marsh. Thank you to Anne Cater and Tinder Press for giving me the opportunity to read and review this beautifully written and thought provoking book.
About the book:
Ellen Lark is on the verge of marriage when she and her fiancé receive an unexpected visit from Alexander Graham Bell.
While her fiancé is eager to make a potentially lucrative acquaintance, Ellen knows what Bell really wants from her. Ellen is deaf, and for a time was Bell's student in a technique called Visible Speech. As he instructed her in speaking, Bell also confided in her about his dream of producing a device which would transmit the human voice along a wire: the telephone. Now, on the cusp of wealth and renown, Bell wants Ellen to speak up in support of his claim to the patent to the telephone, which is being challenged by rivals.
But Ellen has a different story to tell: that of how Bell betrayed her, and other deaf pupils, in pursuit of ambition and personal gain, and cut Ellen off from a community in which she had come to feel truly at home. It is a story no one around Ellen seems to want to hear - but there may never be a more important time for her to tell it.
A Sign of Her Own offers a fascinating window onto a hidden moment in history, and a portrait of a young deaf woman's journey to find her place in the world, and her own authentic voice.
'This is a book about connections. Not the connections that Alexander Graham Bell hoped to forge with his telephone, but the connections that deaf people made before a widespread campaign to prevent and ban the use of sign language. I have loved spending time with my deaf characters, while exploring what it means to have a Deaf identity off the page. Deaf experience is incredibly varied, and this is just one story of many. I hope that you enjoy it.' Sarah Marsh
About the author:
Sarah Marsh was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish prize in 2019 and selected for the London Library Emerging Writers programme in 2020. A Sign of Her Own is her first novel, inspired by her experiences of growing up deaf and her family's history of deafness. She lives in London. @SarahCMarsh
My Review:
A Sign Of Her Own is an immersive historical debut by Sarah Marsh, who draws from her own experience of growing up deaf. Told by the captivating Ellen Lark via two timelines, it is a beautifully written, richly detailed story that offers an important glimpse into the deaf community at a time in history when being deaf was anything but easy.
Ellen Lark is about to get married when she and her fiancé receive a visit from her former teacher Alexander Graham Bell. Her fiancé is eager to make Bell's acquaintance but Ellen is more wary as she knows exactly what he wants from her.
Ellen is deaf and was once a student in a technique Bell called Visible Speech. Part of this was to discourage the use of sign language, something that had been Ellen's lifeline after losing her hearing at the age of four due to scarlet fever. As well as teaching her Visible Speech, Bell also confided in her about his plans to invent a device which would transmit the human voice along a wire. But now, just as he hopes his dream is about to become a reality, Bell wants Ellen to speak out on his behalf as his claim to be the sole inventor of the device is being challenged by rivals.
But Ellen doesn't trust Bell as, in pursuit of his own fame and fortune, he betrayed her, cutting her off from the deaf community and the place where she felt like she truly belonged.
Split between the two timelines, the story is narrated by Ellen as she goes back to her early life and the difficulties she countered after becoming deaf at the age of four. Sent to live with her grandmother, Ellen attends Bell's school where she is taught the technique of Visible Speech. She doesn't find this easy as she's no longer allowed to use the sign language that she has relied on for so long, but she finds herself taken in by Bell's charm and is eager to learn what he has to teach. But as time goes on Ellen becomes unsure of Bell's reasons for helping her and other deaf people - and soon comes to realise that he has been using the deaf community for his own personal gain.
Alexander Graham Bell is a fascinating but complex character who I enjoyed getting to know within the pages of this book. Not an always likeable character, his desire for fame and fortune often appears to take precedence over the welfare of others. The details regarding the invention of the telephone and the issues surrounding the patent were fascinating and were an integral part of the story that I really did find interesting.
A Sign Of Her Own is a thought provoking read that highlights the issues surrounding sign language and how the deaf community have had to fight for their right to use it. With a strong and determined protagonist in the wonderful Ellen Lark, it is a book with an important story that needed to be told.
Sarah Marsh has written an enlightening and at times moving story that really does open your eyes to the difficulties of what it must be like to be deaf in a hearing world. Her writing is stunning, with an authenticity and depth of emotion to it that really did touch my heart.
Highly recommended.
A Sign Of Her Own by Sarah Marsh is available to purchase now:
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