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When this book was being born, I read portions and have anticipated its release…

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You Don’t Have to Speak to Say “I Love You.”

Anna Leighton, a teacher of the deaf, a fairly new innovation in early 19th century England, is about to face her greatest challenge.

At age fourteen, Anna’s younger sister was stricken with a bout of red measles, rendering her deaf. Although Maisie retained the ability to speak, being cut off from everything at an age when the world should be opening up to her caused the child to become severely withdrawn.

As a physician, Maisie’s father had heard of the McAdam Academy for the Deaf in London and knew the school offered a way for his daughter to reconnect with her family. Being a doctor choosing to treat the inhabitants of the small farming community of Little Riversreach instead of a higher class of citizen as did his Harley Street associates, he was unable to afford the tuition and fees the school required, having earlier just that year finished paying the tuition enabling his older daughter to graduate from the Dinsmoore Normal School in preparation for being a secondary studies teacher.

Paying for Anna’s education prevented her younger sister from getting the instruction she required.

As luck would have it, there was an opening at the Academy for an assistant instructor. In order to help Maisie and perhaps in atonement for taking away funds her sibling required, eighteen-year-old Anna applied for the position, and was accepted. She proved herself an apt pupil and on her visits home, taught Maisie everything she had learned. Her sister became so adept at communication by Sign that she was eventually courted and married a young man from the neighborhood.

Now, Anna is about to meet her greatest challenge:  teaching the Baronet David Wood to communicate.

David Wood, Baronet Mayfield, has been deaf since the age of five when the carriage in which he, his parents, and his nanny were riding in, overturned and only he survived. Since he was starting to learn his letters and to read and do sums, David communicates by writing, and can actually speak, though his voice is toneless and his pronunciation worse.

Though his sister has managed to teach him some manners so he’s not a complete barbarian, the Baronet has been mostly allowed to do as he wishes. Sequestered away in the country from Society’s prying eyes and ridicule, his best friends are his horse, Run, and the sons of the village blacksmith.

David seems relatively happily but then a shadow appears on his life. His cousin has filed a claim in court, asking that David be declared incompetent, his titles taken away, and the cousin allowed to have them and the family fortune and estates.

Anna’s task is to teach David to communicate so he can prove his cousin’s allegations wrong. Though David’s a willing pupil, his lack of discipline and recklessness soon cause problems. It’s obvious he wants to learn, to prove his cousin wrong, but some of the things he wants to know aren’t in the usual Sign Language curriculum.

Cupid has gotten in the way of their teacher-pupil relationship and Anna is faced with the problem of following her heart or her head in the coming days.

Love is Silent is released by The Wild Rose Press, October 16, 2023.

Blurb:

Hired by Lady Eleanor Woods to teach her brother sign language, Anna Leighton is startled to discover her pupil isn’t a child, as she expected, but a young man approximately her own age.
David Woods, 27th Baron Mayfield, has been deaf since the age of five. Now approaching his majority, he faces a competency hearing filed by a greedy cousin wanting his inheritance.
The baron is a quick study, but unfortunately some of the things he wants to learn aren’t on the usual curriculum. Even worse, Anna finds herself responding to his inexperienced advances. Is she betraying the trust of a naïve student placed in her care, or is David more knowledgeable than even his sister suspects?

Excerpt:

“David, come in.” His sister didn’t appear to notice. She raised a hand, beckoning. “Let me introduce you to our guest.”

Standing, she took the little slate from the desk, scribbling a few words upon it and holding it out to him. Anna would learn that although she always wrote what she wanted to say, she also spoke to him as if he could hear, for the benefit of anyone else present.

She also noticed Lady Eleanor didn’t speak loudly, as most people did to someone deaf. Her voice didn’t raise above normal speaking level. Indeed, for all the good actually speaking did her brother, she could’ve simply mouthed the words at him.

He glanced at the slate, then back to Anna, and the scowl deepened. A hand went to his riding pocket, bringing out a miniature slate similar to Lady Eleanor’s. A chalk pencil was attached and he pulled it loose, writing a couple of words and turning it so his sister could see.

Anna saw also.

Not maid?

He thinks I’m a servant? Anger sputtered, then died. I am, aren’t I? In a way.

Shaking her head, Lady Eleanor proceeded to write more. “She’s here to teach you the deaf language.”

On the slate Anna could see the words, teach you…deaf language…

Something she could only call fury flashed across his face. His lips tightened, pursing into a pout. He shook his head, glanced at Anna again and repeated the movement even more violently, making curling strands of hair escape from its club. One hand shook in a decidedly negative gesture, then clenched into a fist.

“There’ll be none of that. She’s here, and that’s all there is to it.” Lady Eleanor wrote on the slate and held it up.

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Silent-Toni-V-Sweeney-ebook/dp/B0CF6FFVLQ?ref_=ast_author_dp