‘Silence’ by Julia Park Tracey Speaks Loud and Clear

I spent seven years in New England—four for college plus three for teaching thereafter—and perhaps the strongest impression I gleaned was that it’s a very, very old part of our country and the people there live their modern lives in the midst and mist of history. There are graveyards seemingly everywhere, with small headstones that tilt from having sunken into the famous rocky soil. Reading these markers is informative and disturbing, for chiseled into them are the brief histories of the men, women, and children who, in so many cases, did not spend much time alive. Disease, war, accidents and more made it not unusual for a woman to give birth to many babies, only a few of whom made it past toddling to young and full adulthood. Each name a person, each person worthy of a story, and so many stories that were the foundation of early and recent American Literature. Johnny Tremain and My Brother Sam is Dead were staples of my elementary and middle grades, my kids were raised on The Oxcart Man , and I taught The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible to thousands of high school students. All of which only partly prepared me for the most recent brilliant story by Julia Park Tracey, Silence .

Silence is both the book title and main character’s name in this remarkable novel. Set in Massachusetts in 1721, it is the tale of a woman living in a harsh time under horrible social circumstances. She suffers a myriad of personal tragedies, which she endures and survives because she comes from a heroic stock that is familiar to any contemporary person whether they read a lot or not—she’s a woman . Limited by faith, punished by the ignorance of the times, and pinned down by a patriarchy at perhaps its peak, Silence Marsh is the actual seventh great grandmother of our author, and spiritually related to the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. She’s also the mom every kid thanks, whether it’s when they win a gold medal, or become the first person in their family to finish college, or simply for baking killer brownies. Our protagonist is, really, everywoman .

This being a Julia Park Tracey story, the language is rich in craft and authenticity. Using powers uniquely hers, Julia seems to have traveled to the early 18th century and brought back terminology and descriptions of technology that ring true to this reader who’s pressed apples, attended a quilting festival and eaten too many bowls of chowder. But the great gift of Silence is, in fact, our narrator, Silence. As she undergoes her trials, both figurative and literal, she shares with us the hard, hard world wherein she resides. Everything is hand-made and grown, every day is either too hot or cold, and everyone seems to be working every possible moment. When not working, they are either in church or sleeping—leisure had not yet been invented.

The plot of the story is simple and startling. After suffering multiple horrible losses, Silence echoes her literary cousin John Proctor who famously shouted, “God is dead!” by voicing her pain during Sunday service.  And like him, Silence is harshly punished. In her case, she’s ordered not to speak for an entire year. How she survives this horrific muting is only part of what makes this character memorable and statue-worthy. Her love for her father and brothers, her care for a neighbor child at risk, and ultimately her unspoken love of herself and life is what cannot be forgotten after page 243.

Silence is also a phenomenal narrator in that she shares all of her doubts and angers, hopes and terrors, and her curiosity about everything around her, including the Puritan beliefs that are the glue holding her community together. Writer Tracey has taken the bones of an actual relative, and added flesh and muscle and a mind far more complex and real than the prevailing notion of narrow-mindedness we—or at least I—often ascribe to people of that place and time. The image of stoic folk in nearly all black, wearing bonnets or buckle hats, is quickly set aside as Silence talks to us in an earnest voice that we never doubt, and in fact cheer for throughout.

Ultimately, this book does what Julia’s last book, The Bereaved , did for me. By telling a story set long ago, she has made me see and feel more clearly how the women of those times connect to the women of our times, with challenges, obstacles, and sufferings overcome through integrity, grit, and a strength that, forgive the possible hyperbole, is the engine for life on Earth. I saw it in my own mother, see it in the mother of my sons, and now have been blessed again to read about it in a book written by another mother I know and admire for her many talents and strengths.

Silence will be published on September 24, 2024. Julia Park Tracey will share her new book at Books Inc., 1344 Park Street, on Thursday, October 17, at 7 p.m., with a short talk beforehand, a short reading, and then a book signing afterward. The event is free to the public.

Gene Kahane is the founder of the Foodbank Players , a lifelong teacher, and former Poet Laureate for the City of Alameda. Reach him at gene@alamedapost.com . His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Gene-Kahane .

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