Hear No Evil: Shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger 2023

Product Information

As restrictions eased when the book came out in February this year, I was able to have a launch in Waterstones, as well as taking part in a lot of other events. Amazing, unexpected opportunities have come my way. Having extracts from Hear No Evil adapted into performance for the Edinburgh Book Festival; being shortlisted for Bloody Scotland’s Debut Prize, and for the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown. Things have happened that are dreams come true. What happens when a person who is deaf and without speech, is accused of murder? What if this happens not in our time, or even in Helen Keller’s time, but 200 years ago - before sign language was standardised (sort of), and when deaf persons were often assumed to be unintelligent? Hear No Evil is based on the true story of Jean Campbell, a deaf woman accused of throwing her baby into the Clyde. The pace of this book is slow. I honestly would have struggled to get through it if it hadn't been such an easy and engaging read. I was immediately invested in Jean's story and intrigued to find out the sequence of events that led to her actions.

The use of Scots words and phrases scattered throughout the text was a great touch that added to the sense of place and time.The book also indulges in what, for me, is the least appealing characteristic of historic fiction. The narrative voice dips in and out of the time period of the book, it’s not quite as antiquated as an actual book from the early 1800s but, for a lot of the book, it resides in a sort of vaguely 19th century tone, matching how the characters talk. The focus of the narration is however firmly in the 21st century, the emphasis is all on what a modern reader would notice most if transplanted to this time, the contrasts between now and 1817. Good people are those with attitudes most closely mirroring modern attitudes, bad people are more of their time, the world building is firmly focused on the parts of the cities modern audiences would recognise and be interested in and, when it becomes inconvenient, the narrative voice will waver or switch to more easily convey something. What happens when a person who is deaf and without speech, is accused of murder? What if this happens not in our time, or even in Helen Keller’s time, but 200 years ago - before sign language was standardised (s Now imagine the past through the eyes of a deaf-mute girl in, say, the early 19th century. Sign language is in its infancy, and certainly not standardised. As a deaf girl, you probably haven’t been to school, so you can’t read and write, and because of that, the people you can’t talk to probably think you are stupid. Stupid and ignorant and, when accused of murdering your baby, probably guilty. Marlon James: A Fantastical Star What does a writer do once they’ve won the Booker Prize? If you’re the indefatigable Marlon James, you embark on a wildly ambitious series that defies easy characterisation. The second in the Dark Star trilogy Moon Witch, Spider King draws inventively…

A fascinating exploration of deafness and human value amid the sights, sounds and smells of urban Scotland in 1817. * Sally Magnusson * I have a New Writers Award for fiction (2019) from Scottish Book Trust and an MLitt (Distinction) in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow (2018). Hear No Evil, my debut novel, is a historical crime story set in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1817 and is due to be published in February 2022. A fascinating exploration of deafness and human value amid the sights, sounds and smells of urban Scotland in 1817.'- Sally Magnusson Amanda Mitchison, The Wolf Hunters (Fledgling Press). Set in a brutal, chaotic Scotland of the near future. The author is an award-winning journalist and author of several children’s books.

Inspiration

The plot may not be the strongest, but Hear No Evil is one to read for its brilliant historical world-building and captivating exploration of deaf experience.

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A compelling and thoughtful exploration of a deaf woman's struggle for justice in Regency-era Scotland * Rebecca Netley, author of THE WHISTLING * Based on a landmark case in Scottish legal history Hear No Evil is a richly atmospheric exploration of nineteenth-century Edinburgh and Glasgow at a time when progress was only on the horizon. A time that for some who were silenced could mean paying the greatest price. There are aspects to this book that I really enjoyed. The author’s interest seems to be deaf communication and education and the sections delving into that were by far the strongest. The scene in the deaf church explaining the manner in which the service was conducted and the town hall meeting in which Robert describes the nascent BSL he uses and how he teaches his pupils at the deaf school were both excellent scenes. Sibbald, a gruff, heavyset man, said little as he led Robert up a narrow central staircase to a landing that fanned out in a circle and was punctuated by dark wooden doors. Each of these doors was furnished with a slit at eye level. Robert noticed that the keeper passed them without bothering to look inside. Whether Sibbald was supremely confident about the state of the people in the cells or whether there were currently no other inhabitants apart from the newly arrived Glaswegian murderess, Robert couldn’t tell. The historical setting of Edinburgh and Glasgow are rendered well and give an insight into the developments of the cities and how they would have looked in the 1800s.