When the World Goes Quiet: A Novel

Name: When the World Goes Quiet: A Novel
SKU: 126076
Availability: InStock

4.5 | 11,548 ratings

Price: 26.33

Last update: 08-31-2024

About this item

In the final days of World War I, an aspiring artist’s courageous journey is just beginning in a powerful novel about love, danger, and survival by the author of Take What You Can Carry.

It’s 1918 in German-occupied Bruges, Belgium. With luck, Evelien will make it to the end of the war and be given what she was promised: a prized painting in exchange for safeguarding her employer’s possessions. Until then, Evelien knows to keep her head down and stay out of trouble. But life never goes to plan, especially in war.

A member of the Resistance approaches Evelien: steal a list of names hidden in her employer’s home. In return, she’ll get a letter from her long-missing husband, Emiel. She’d lost hope of Emiel’s survival, but the promised letter puts her certainty of his death in question. Evelien begins her mission and soon forms a friendship with a soldier who is struggling with the devastating demands of battle. Their shared passion for art deepens the bond, and Evelien faces a heart-wrenching truth: she longs for Emiel’s safe return…but not necessarily to her.

As the final days of the war loom closer, Evelien has never been in more danger. And should she survive the war’s bitter end, what choices will she make for a life beyond liberation?

Kay Lynn

WWI In Belgium From Many Perspectives

Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2024

Well written & thought provoking book. Loved the flawed, realistic characters and the many twists & turns this story took. I recommend this book!

Willa

beautifully written; best if you’re an art aficionado

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2024

First of all, let me tell you that this book is beautifully written and the story involves themes that make you ponder… right and wrong, ethics, religion, etc. It also shines a light on the horrors of war and the amazing strength of the human spirit. For all of that, I would recommend it.

Now here are a few things I did not like about it. It was far too easy to guess what had happened with Emiele. This left me very impatient to get to the end and I wasn’t able to enjoy the story as much because of this. I also listened to the audiobook for most of it, and would highly recommend the written form instead. It’s just too slow as an audiobook and the narrator, though talented, drove me crazy with her accents. I couldn’t tell the two female characters apart and often times couldn’t even tell what she was trying to say. I had to keep looking at the written version just to figure out what words were being spoken. Lastly, though I did enjoy the artists perspective voiced in this book, there was way too much time spent on specific artists and their styles. I didn’t read this book to become an art expert, and felt almost like being left out of the “inside story” whenever Paige after page was spent dedicated to these art discussions. A little goes a long way, and this book had way too much. Cutting a lot of the art talk would’ve helped greatly in the pacing of the book, which seemed a tad too drawn out.

I was originally planning to give this book a three star rating, but the ending redeemed it.

Bethany T.

Deep insights, artistic focus

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2024

This is an excellent book: so artistic, a bit mystical, and full of deep insights! It is set in Bruges during the final months of the Great War/WW1. Bruges is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, and holds a special place forever in my heart, so I was thrilled to read a novel set there! I was thankful to have a memory-bank from which to draw on regarding the setting, because, while this author did a decent job with descriptive language, overall the book is a bit more cerebral, and the descriptions tended toward the artistic perspective rather than the precise, objective setting descriptions one would expect from many actual period novels.

This book is a pleasure to read, in spite of it being published in 2024, it is packed with insights and little philosophical treasures. In that regard, it is similar to interwar fiction, but with one glaring stylistic change--the ending is happy, and everything wrapped up neatly. This is in comparison to how a lot of interwar novels ended with a shattering abruptness, almost mid action, often with the protagonist in some sort of transition. That style of ending has a certain effect on the readers that would have paired nicely with the rest of the book and its abundance of questions on the human condition.

There are a few spelling (especially some of the German) and formatting errors, but not to the extent that would affect readability.

My only real complaint is the poppet made from moonbathed amethyst. Yes, even in the Roman days they used amethyst and other gems as amulets, but the manner in which this is presented in the book is definitely more of a post WW2/ post Gerald Gardner/ post Dr. Marcel Vogel type of application. I have yet to read anything from the period, including occult non-fiction, describing the use of crystals in such a way. I guess anything is possible, and sure, this book is for the 2024 readers who know about such things, I just perceive a danger in confusing people when we project modern ideas onto the past and pretend they are a "tradition."

Apart from these minor complaints, this is one of the best new books I have read! This is a book for the deep thinkers and artists out there. I loved the artistic descriptions, and the abundance of art history. The ideal reader would know a bit about cubism, impressionism, pointillism, and early 20th Century Western European artists.

Bottom line: highly recommend this book if you like substance and insight! Especially recommend it if you are an artist or interested in art history.

Frieda

When the World Goes Quiet

Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2024

I liked this book, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected to. It runs slow at times, very slow. There was a lot of redundancy to my mind. It took me nearly a week to read, when normally a book this size would be finished in 2 or 3 days! The characters were well written, even some "bad guys" were quite likeable. That's not an easy thing to do! One thing I didn't like, however was a core part of the story, was the adultery. I realize it happened in those days, so I think it was Colletta's reaction that bothered me, as if she condoned him cheating on his wife just because there was a grandchild in the picture. I don't think a woman of those times would have condoned this so quickly! Especially when the wife, her daughter-in-law, was standing right there. Her indiscretion was smaller in context, in that they only had sex once, it is written very discreetly BTW, but it was just as wrong. Two wrongs never make a right!! Now, I could be very wrong, but it seems the author sugar coated the atrocities a bit as well. Packed it in cotton. I'm certain it was much more frightening than it reads. Despite these negatives, I DID like the storyline a lot! I recommend it to WWI fans! Just be aware of my negatives first!! ???? One more thing, & this is probably just me, but I caught myself thinking we were in WWII, every once in a while that this was Nazi Germany instead of Imperial Germany! To be so different, they were also so similar.

Ryan Haines

Very simple read, good storyline and enjoyable characters

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2024

I enjoyed the slow development of characters. It was easy to get into this book and made me want to finish in one sitting thought I had to stop half way through.

The character development has some good twists and unexpected parts. The details in the description of rooms and scenes were easy to picture.

I also thought there were just enough characters that you didn't lose the storyline. It left me with some questions but just enough to keep you interested and wondering what would happen next.

It lacked a little more background in places but it picked up later in the book and filled in some holes. The story flowed better after getting half way through.

Overall a very good read.

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