I know I would break in the face of such adversity, especially when the witch trial begins, but that Marnie doesn’t is a testament to her own strength. She speaks her mind, is self-sufficient, is caring and able to remain so even with all sorts of hardships facing her, such as a village that hates her and the brother-in-law determined to take her new home away from her – even if it means using that village full of hate and suspicion against her. When we first meet Marnie, she doesn’t exactly seem like a strong protagonist – she is being led meekly to a new house far away from home, addressing her new, older husband as “sir”, and doing exactly as he says – but it soon becomes apparent that she is more than just a product her (albeit fantastical, as there is no specific time period attached to this setting) time period.
Whether she succeeds, of course, is another matter. Marnie, the main character of The Raging Quiet, may not be setting about to change the situation for an entire people, but she sees what is wrong with the treatment of Raver (who she soon dubs “Raven”, once she discovers why he acts so strangely and makes such “demonic” noises) and does her very best to change it. One thread that The Raging Quiet has in common with the other three titles I mentioned before is the concept of one person seeing something wrong – with the world, with way a certain group of people are treated – and doing something about it. It should therefore be no surprise that The Raging Quiet is just as wonderful as Jordan’s other works, and for many of the same reasons. The (tragically out of print) Winter of Fire is one of my favourite books ever, and Secret Sacrament and its sequel Time of the Eagle also rank very highly on the list of favourites. I should confess my bias at the start of this review: I am a big fan of Sherryl Jordan’s books. But their precious new friendship is cut short when the villagers misconstrue their strange, private communication, and put Marnie on trial for witchcraft. The two outsiders soon develop a rudimentary sign language. Her subsequent isolation pushes her towards Raver – and an important discovery: the villagers have mistaken his deafness for madness. The distrust surrounding Marnie increases when her husband suddenly dies. Each is set apart from the community around them: Marnie because she is a newcomer, having been brought to the seaside village by her new – and much older – husband and Raver because he is the village lunatic. Get Your Own Copy From:, The Book Depository
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