Don't Breathe a Word
Jennifer McMahon, 2011
HarperCollins
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780061689376
Summary
On a soft summer night in Vermont, twelve-year-old Lisa went into the woods behind her house and never came out again. Before she disappeared, she told her little brother, Sam, about a door that led to a magical place where she would meet the King of the Fairies and become his queen.
Fifteen years later, Phoebe is in love with Sam, a practical, sensible man who doesn't fear the dark and doesn't have bad dreams—who, in fact, helps Phoebe ignore her own. But suddenly the couple is faced with a series of eerie, unexplained occurrences that challenge Sam's hardheaded, realistic view of the world. As they question their reality, a terrible promise Sam made years ago is revealed—a promise that could destroy them all. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1968
• Where—suburban, Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A., Goddard College; M.F.A., Vermont College
• Currently—Montpelier, Vermont
In her words
I was born in 1968 and grew up in my grandmother’s house in suburban Connecticut, where I was convinced a ghost named Virgil lived in the attic. I wrote my first short story in third grade.
I graduated with a BA from Goddard College in 1991 and then studied poetry for a year in the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College. A poem turned into a story, which turned into a novel, and I decided to take some time to think about whether I wanted to write poetry or fiction.
After bouncing around the country, I wound up back in Vermont, living in a cabin with no electricity, running water, or phone with my partner, Drea, while we built our own house. Over the years, I have been a house painter, farm worker, paste-up artist, Easter Bunny, pizza delivery person, homeless shelter staff member, and counselor for adults and kids with mental illness—I quit my last real job in 2000 to work on writing full time.
In 2004, I gave birth to our daughter, Zella. These days, we're living in an old Victorian in Montpelier, Vermont. Some neighbors think it looks like the Addams family house, which brings me immense pleasure. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
[A] strange and unsettling shocker ... With the tale’s outcome utterly unforeseeable even as it races along, Don’t Breathe a Word leaves you breathless.
Wall Street Journal
Family secrets and fairy lore create a shifting reality in McMahon's unsettling novel about the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl.... [A] rural Vermont chiller with a Rosemary's Baby vibe, but even after a surprising villain...emerges and more than a few disquieting passages about Lisa are burned through, many readers will remain in the dark
Publishers Weekly
A young girl disappears in the woods one summer night. The only clue to her whereabouts rests with her brother and her cousin, who never reveal what they know.... [This] literary thriller seems designed to keep readers guessing, but with an overly complex plot and excess of characters, the thrill of suspense is lost amid confusion and frustrating loose ends. —Leigh Wright, Bridgewater, NJ
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
1. From an early age, Phoebe has a complicated relationship with men and their place in her life. How do you think this affects her relationship withvSam? How do you think it affects her ability to trust?
2. Throughout the book, there are a lot of references to fairy tales. How doyou think fairy tales mold children’s perceptions about the world? In what ways do fairy tales represent or mimic real world problems and fears?
3. How do you think the Evie/Lisa relationship and the Phyllis/Hazel relationship parallel each other? Does one woman in each bond hold sway over the other? Is it always apparent who’s really in control of the situation?
4. Throughout the book, it seems as if some men, or the idea of a man like Teilo, hold a strong power over the women. Why do you think this is? How are those men different from Sam and Dave?
5. Lisa's unwavering belief in the fairies, despite the skepticism of everyonearound her, is a driving force in the story. Is believing in something so fiercely a strength or a weakness?
6. At one point, Sam states that instead of having cancer and heart disease passed down in their family, they have malevolent stories. Do you think the stories we tell have the power to shape, even change, reality? Are there stories that have been passed down in your family that, true or not, have become part of how you see yourself and where you come from?
7. We get to know Sam and Evie both as children and as adults. How do you think their childhood selves compare to their grown-up selves? Do you think the adults they became were shaped by what happened the summer Lisa went missing?
8. Part of the book is told from the point of view of Sam's present-day girlfriend, Phoebe. She is the one character who was not part of the story’s central mystery, Lisa’s disappearance. Why do you think the author chose to tell the present day story from Phoebe’s perspective? Is she an effective narrator?
9. Evie, in some ways, is the most complicated character in the book. She is fiercely loyal to Lisa, yet she betrays her terribly; she wants the truth to come out, yet participates in the deception. Does Evie truly have Lisa's best interests at heart? Is she responsible for all of her actions?
10. The ending of the book is open to different interpretations. What do you think really happened?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)