The Quiet is Loud

Adult literary sci-fi, for readers of Kazuo Ishiguro and NK Jemisin

🇬🇧 English edition: Invisible Publishing (ISBN: 9781988784717)
🇩🇪 German edition: Translated by Diana Bürgel, published by Piper Verlag

Shortlisted for the 2022 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize
Loan Stars May 2021 Adult Top 10 Pick

The Quiet is Loud paperback copy sits on a white coffee table

Invisible Publishing • Bookshop.org • Find a Canadian independent bookstore • My favourite local indie: The Book Wardrobe

Indigo • Barnes & Noble • Waterstones

As a child, Freya Tanangco dreamed of her mother’s death days before it happened. Since then, Freya’s life has been spent in hiding: from the troubled literary legacy created by her author father, and from the scrutiny of a society that is hostile to vekers—people who, like her, have enhanced mental abilities.

When her prophetic dreams take a dangerous turn, Freya finds herself increasingly forced to sacrifice her own anonymity—and the fragile safety that comes with it—in order to protect those around her.

Interwoven with themes of Filipino-Canadian and mixed-race identity, fantastical elements from Norse and Filipino mythology, and tarot card symbolism, The Quiet Is Loud is an intergenerational tale about the consequences of secrets and what happens when we refuse to let others tell our stories for us.

Editor’s View: The Quiet is Loud
“Following the publication of  The Quiet Is Loud, editor Bryan Ibeas discusses the revelatory experience of working with an author who shares his heritage, and the multi-layered search for belonging in Samantha Garner’s debut novel.”

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Praise for The Quiet is Loud

“While the novel focuses on Freya’s journey, it also poses the difficult questions surrounding identity, what it means to be mixed-race, and begs the question: who gets to tell our stories?”
—Hamilton Review of Books

“The magical and mundane live together throughout this inventive novel. On an emotional and thematic level in the book, it is not so much the magic itself — tarot, prophetic dreams, or magnifying other people’s talents — but the way that society reacts to this magic that matters.”
—CAROUSEL

“… an intriguing, grounded sci-fi that develops through poignant moments in the past, dream sequences, and present first-person narrative to unveil a story that transcends the pages . . . .”
—Cloud Lake Literary

“The smallest, most personal details give the novel its viscerality. Garner’s touch is subtle and effective … all of these details braid together into a story that at once feels so easily real and also glimmers with possibility, that fantastical tug of ‘and yet’.”
—Marías at Sampaguitas

“The Quiet is Loud is a novel about the mystical and supernatural, a genre tale about people with unbelievable powers beyond their own understanding. But it’s also a deeply thoughtful book about identity and the quest for true acceptance—especially in a world that encourages us to hate, hide, and fear who we are.”
—Open Book

“The Quiet is Loud is a zeitgeist zirconia, a choker of sparkling speculation … Garner wears her spec fic, geek, and SF influences on her sleeve, and Quiet is a warm welcome to the more literary part of that universe.”
—Understorey Magazine

“Receptivity and empathy are what make stories, what drive and shape interactions. By being attuned to the finer details without holding a preconceived expectation in mind, we can take in the full complexity that stories like The Quiet is Loud are waiting to share with us.” —Canthius

“Garner’s speculative narrative … [embeds] these questions in a complex family history while maintaining a day-in-the-life narrative feel. It’s a fearlessly unique book, and I look forward to whatever this exciting new author chooses to write next.”
—Broken Pencil

“In The Quiet Is Loud, Garner announces herself not only as a writer with a clear, fresh vision for what speculative fiction could be but also as a writer who will make it happen.”
—Prairie Fire

“The Quiet is Loud made me believe wholeheartedly in the paradextrous powers of its characters and their world, so wholeheartedly that at times I forgot that what I was reading was not possible. Garner’s is an exciting new voice.”
—Liz Harmer, author of The Amateurs and Strange Loops

“Samantha Garner’s rich prose deftly weaves together family politics, estrangement, and finding one’s own place in the world. A lovely exploration of friendship, and identity, and what it means to be truly accepted.”
—Lindsay Zier-Vogel, author of Letters to Amelia

“In The Quiet is Loud, Garner builds a world where dream visions, tarot readings, and the existence of the paradextrous are a natural part of day-to-day life. Written in clear-eyed prose that effortlessly weaves in Filipino and Norse mythology, The Quiet is Loud is an exciting and sensitive look into the mind of a young woman grappling with the consequences of family secrets, while also coming to terms with her unique talents. It is a powerful debut.”
—Teri Vlassopoulos, author of Escape Plans

“In The Quiet is Loud, Samantha Garner has deftly crafted a world that left me breathless. Getting to know Freya Tanangco’s story, watching her weave together the strands of her Norwegian-Filipino identity and the unexpected power she wields, was both suspenseful and filled with quiet illumination. At the heart, the novel is a gripping journey of self-discovery and the family bonds that hold us all together.”
—Julia Zarankin, author of Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder

Interviews

Video & Audio

(Other, non-TQIL-related interviews can be found here.)

The Quiet is Loud in Preview & Recommendation Lists