Bridget Collins, The Silence Factory

Bridget Collins, author of breakout sensation and number 1 bestseller The Binding will be discussing her latest book. An inventive, spellbinding blend of speculative and historical fiction, The Silence Factory is a story of complicity, desire and corruption – a novel to lose yourself in.

Henry dreams of silence. A world without the clattering of carriages through cobbled streets, the distant cries of drunken brawls, the relentless ticking of the clock. Then he meets a fascinating, mysterious gentleman who sells just that. Precious silk that can drown out the clamour of the world – and everything Henry is so desperate to escape.

Bridget Collins will be in conversation with author, freelance writer and radio and podcast producer Christine Penhall.

This event will include an audience Q&A. After the event there will be an opportunity to get your book signed by the author.

Wednesday 5 June, 7.00pm

Venue: Wivenhoe Library, 104/6 High Street, Wivenhoe, CO7 9AB
Tickets: £8 / £7 concessions (Students, Under 27s and Unwaged)
Box Office: essexbookfestival.org.uk or Mercury Theatre 01206 573948

The Silence Factory

Published 9th May 2024

Order a copy of The Silence Factory at bookshop.org

Henry dreams of silence. A world without the clattering of carriages through cobbled streets, the distant cries of drunken brawls, the relentless ticking of the clock.

Then he meets a fascinating, mysterious gentleman who sells just that. Precious silk that can drown out the clamour of the world – and everything Henry is so desperate to escape.

Summoned to Sir Edward’s secluded factory to try to cure his young daughter’s deafness, Henry is soon drawn deeper and deeper into the mysterious origins of this otherworldly gift: a gift that has travelled from ancient Mediterranean glades to English libraries.

Ignoring repeated warnings, he allows himself to fall under the spell of Sir Edward and his silk… but when he learns its true cost, will it be too late to turn back?

‘Reminds us of the power of storytelling’
– Tracy Chevalier

‘Sumptuous’ – Guardian

‘More of an experience than a book, written with such grace and wisdom. Utterly brilliant’ – Joanna Cannon

Bridget on writing The Silence Factory

‘I’ve always been fascinated by the tremendous potency of silence: it’s simultaneously something which can be intensely desirable (think of the noisy party next door when you’re getting up at five for an early shift) – and horribly claustrophobic (think of the prison cell, where you can neither hear nor be heard).

We all want to silence inconvenient noise, but we all fear being silenced; so it struck me as a perfect metaphor for certain kinds of power, and a way to explore big questions about what, and whom, we’re prepared to sacrifice in order not to hear anything disagreeable. But it isn’t an intellectual book, and at its heart is emotion: not only cruelty and cowardice, but grief, courage and – most of all – love.’

About the Author

Bridget Collins trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art after reading English at King’s College, Cambridge. She is the author of seven acclaimed books for young adults and has had two plays produced, one at the Edinburgh Fringe. She is the Number 1 bestselling author of The Binding and The Betrayals. The Silence Factory is her third adult novel.

This event will be hosted by Christine Penhall.

Christine is an author, freelance writer and radio and podcast producer and writes contemporary romance novels. She has written for local newspapers & magazines. She has produced radio documentaries for BBC Essex. She has on air radio experience and now has her own occasional podcast – Talking to My Friends About Books – in which she talks to her friends about books….