78. The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf

While browsing at a bookstore, this book caught my eye. Since I am really watching my book budget and only shopping when I have a gift card, I decided against spending the $15 and looking to see if my library had it. I was in luck and immediately placed a hold. What a great discovery! I give The Weight of Silence an A-.

From Amazon:
It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn's shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.
Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler.
Calli's mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter's voice.
Petra Gregory is Calli's best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.
Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

I loved this book and the way that is was told. We are brought into the lives and heads of four of the characters. That is one of my favorite types and tools that writers use because I love to get inside the heads of people and characters. Sometimes I think I should have gone into psychology or counseling rather than teaching. I loved the characters though, and just wanted to gather Calli, Petra, and Ben and keep them safe. There is a mystery in the story, though I had that figured out pretty quickly, but it didn't remove anything from the story. I hope Ms. Gudenkauf is quickly working on her next book!