The Silence Factory

Bridget Collins

HarperCollins

Otago Daily Times, 2024

Bridget Collins’ third adult novel, The Silence Factory, is a lush, gothic work of historical fantasy that explores themes of greed, corruption, class, and the taboos of same-sex attraction against a backdrop of 19^th Century Britain.

Since the death of his wife in childbirth, Henry Latimer has abandoned his aspirations as a poet and consigned himself to a life devoid of light or purpose in the employ of his father-in-law, Argyll, a professional aurist. Everything changes when he meets Sir Edward Ashmore-Percy, a man who is, quite literally, selling silence. Although his primary reason for the meeting is to have his daughter fitted for hearing aids, Sir Edward also wonders if they might be interested in a very special silk produced by his family-owned factory. Derived not from silkworms but spiders, the material can deaden sound completely – surely something that would interest anybody in their line of business?

Seduced as much by the man himself as the beautiful sample of silk he leaves behind, Henry persuades Argyll to let him travel to Edward’s Telverton estate to assess his daughter. Although the girl, Philomel, is so profoundly deaf that hearing aids will be of no assistance, rather than dismissing him, Sir Edward puts him in charge of a campaign to sell Telverton silk to the wider British public. Heady, with his unexpected (and potentially reciprocated) attraction to the man, Henry is determined to succeed. But as time goes on and he learns more about the silk, its history, manufacture, and the disturbing effects that working with the silk has on those who handle it, he becomes increasingly uneasy about the venture. For spiders weave webs designed to confuse and entice their prey, and while one side of the fabric swallows sound, the other reflects mesmeric, distorted echoes that alter people’s consciousness and sanity.

Collins weaves many fascinating strands into the central plot, from the Dickensian conditions of the silk factory to the colonial appropriation of the knowledge of Indigenous cultures and attitudes to homosexuality and mental illness. This richness, which leaves the reader free to find associations that draw them into the story, is one of the novel’s most rewarding aspects.

For me, the hook was the way deafness was regarded in the late 19^th century, when a belief that the ability to speak differentiated men from animals led to a move from the French to the German method of deaf education, with profound and long-lasting negative effects. Ashamed by his daughter’s inability to hear, Henry is determined Philomel must communicate orally rather than finger-speak, but her governess continues to sign in direct contravention of Edward’s orders. And, in a delicious irony, the fact that the village children who work in his factory are deafened by their exposure to the silk means that a new and thriving version of the language is developing.

For fans of Collins’ earlier work, The Silence Factory will not disappoint. For those unfamiliar with her writing, why not give it a try?