The History of Silence - Softcover

"A lovely book which is accessible without being predictable, engaging, and ultimately surprisingly sweet. All in all The History of Silence is a really pleasurable read, not in the sense of 'light, ' but in that it satisfies a desire for a complete, rounded story with characters vivid enough to quickly become our friends and problems real enough to shed some light on our own."--Anne Posten, Words Without Borders

"'The History of Silence' does this one thing, this rich manifestation of these people's lives so well, so beautifully, and in so few pages. It feels as if every aspect of relationships are explored, including one that so many books falter at: sex, sexuality. 'The History of Silence' is one of the most sensual, intimate books I've read. The sex is physical, can be simple and rough, it is passionate, but it is also caring, messy, and kind. Let that be a synecdoche for everything else that Zarraluki does with his characters."--P.T. Smith, Three Percent

"A well-written and nicely conceived novel."--Michael Orthofer, The Complete Review

"Impeccably written. Reading that turns into pleasure, a game with no rules, from the first to the last line." --El País

"The twin themes of this novel are love and silence. This book is a delightful discovery. Not a page goes by without some splendid, thought-provoking turn of phrase, carrying the reader effortlesly towards the end." --Libélula Libros

The two main charactes in the story, a writer and a publisher romantically involved, have a sudden and funny idea while driving through a deserted landscape: “Why not write a book about silence?” As the book grows, including stories of friends, questions ("why is silence awkward at a dinner with friends but not on top of a mountain ?") quotations from philosophers and writers... the writer and the publisher stop talking to each other, as if they themselves became objects of their research. This novel is about yet another book that was never written, and also about all of the things that we hide from those people who think to know us well. With the splendid gallery of characters that inhabit the novel, the author displays his implacable sense of humour and shows us to what extent life is a comedy under the constant threat of a tragic ending. Laughter, which we use to scare away silence, is the most elegant way of forgetting for a moment how close that danger is. This is something the series of characters whose lives are intertwined in this book know well. A work that reflects on the beauty and the risk of silence, on small unmentionable secrets and betrayals that lurk behind every love.