The timing was perfect; just as Baiba Svenca told me about this book, which she was sure I would enjoy, I was asked to choose an audio-book as a gift.

Painter of Silence is a good choice of a book for me, both as a tale and as an audio-book. The book spans a period which begins well before World War II,  and continues into the period after it, moving between the times to draw you into the tale. There are many rich descriptions and I find that in an audio-book (with a good reader, of course!) it is easy to conjure the visual images being described of the unfamiliar Romanian countryside and villages.

One of the main characters of the story, is Deaf. He is the “painter of silence” and the author involves us to a suprising degree in how he viewed the world growing up, while sharing with us how his world viewed (and accepted) him. Through people’s interactions with him (particularly Safda, the girl who knew him from infancy) we see the other characters developing and the clouds of war building up and threatening their existence. The deaf person became the one you could tell anything to.

I wonder if the author had first hand experience with Deaf people. I found very little information about Ms. Harding on the Internet. In any case, I’m sure you don’t have to be a teacher of English to deaf and hard of hearing students to feel involved and enjoy this book!