IN THE SHADOW OF SILENCE

In Dumont’s novel, a psychiatrist struggles with her husband’s depression.

Eva is a Belgian immigrant and a recently licensed children’s psychiatrist who has just moved to Burlington, Vermont, to practice at the local university hospital. Though she is academically and professionally accomplished, Eva feels the lack of “someone to love, someone who will love her back.” Out of curiosity, she attends a talk on climate change at the university, and there begins a decades-long romance with Lyman, the charismatic, accomplished environmental scientist giving the lecture. Eva and Lyman get married and have three children: Ezra, Gabriel, and Olivia. Their family life is mostly loving and comfortable, but it’s punctuated by Lyman’s occasional “dark moods.” Eva convinces Lyman to seek treatment (“I’m getting that feeling again, of something dark hanging over our lives”), which helps matters. The summer after Gabriel’s college graduation, however, Lyman reveals that he has stopped his treatment—his dark moods return, and he eventually alienates his entire family in his quest for “quiet.” “Quiet” and “space” are the last things Lyman needs, however, and the family must come to terms with their guilt over giving in to him. Dumont’s novel is an expertly written, hyperrealistic portrait of a family torn apart by mental illness. Though the story spans decades of a marriage and family life, the plot moves along without plodding through quotidian minutiae. Instead, the author adeptly takes a ‘snapshot’ approach; reading the book feels like leafing through an old family photo album. Savvy readers who peruse the author’s note will be able to predict the end of the story, but this is not a bad thing, as the plot itself is not the primary focus. As a therapeutic tool, this book prioritizes realism over melodrama, aiming to connect readers with the story and deliver an emotional catharsis.

A gripping story of mental illness.