Harsh realities: ‘A World of Silence’ by Jo Skinner

Classified as contemporary women’s fiction, A World of Silence deals with the all-too-timeless and pervasive issue that blights so many lives: intimate partner abuse and coercive control.

The three women at the centre of the novel, all entirely believable and relatable, have been connected since their youth. Now in their thirties, their lives have taken different trajectories but now have reconnected, in ways not entirely welcome or comfortable for each of them.

Kate is a psychologist with two young kids and a husband who seems more intent on reviving his music career than on his family duties. When a former client commits suicide after her violent partner is unexpectedly released from gaol, Kate can’t shake the awful images of the suffering Bea had endured at that man’s hands.

Her best friend is Tori, a single mum who has created her dream business, a vintage clothing and furniture store, while raising her son. Tori is determined not to let the man whom she knows to be unworthy of the title of father into her boy’s life.

When superstar football player Daryl turns up in their seaside town, complete with his beautiful blonde wife Shelley and their three children, both Kate and Tori are shaken. Daryl and Shelley have played important – and not always positive – roles in both their pasts. And now it seems they are back to upend their worlds once again.

There is an undercurrent of tension that builds to an almost unbearable climax towards the end as the three women at the centre of the story try their best to sort out the complexities of their own situations and to help each other.

They make mistakes – don’t we all? – and as a reader I felt moments of intense frustration (similar to watching a TV program when I want to yell at a character ‘don’t go outside! there’s someone out there with a knife!’ You know the kind of thing I mean…it seems obvious to us as readers or viewers, right?) But of course, when we are immersed in a situation in real life, it is anything but. So, good on the author for allowing her characters to be human with everyday frailties and make real, human mistakes.

One of the key mistakes the characters make in this novel – and that people make in real life, especially around issues of partner violence and coercive control – is to keep silent. Not to speak up, speak out, share concerns, worries, hunches. So the title of this novel is spot on. And the cover illustration chillingly evocative.

A World of Silence is a gripping read. Chances are, it may remind you of someone you know. Sadly. Novels like this are a good way of getting more understanding of these difficult issues out there into the wider community. I was pleased to read it.
It’s published by Hawkeye Publishing in April 2025.
My thanks to the publisher for an early copy to review.