The Moon Around Sarah — Paul Lederer

Sarah cannot speak. Born with the ability, but having lost the inclination, Sarah lives in silence, surrounded by the noise of her bickering family, who are gathered to discuss the selling of the family homestead. But there is no room for sentiment and a young, selectively mute girl is not a burden any of them want to shoulder. During an escape from the madness in which she was raised, she is befriended by a young man who finds her silence eloquent. Knowing nothing about her, and unable to learn, the two must communicate via a deeper language. And Sarah must re-learn her understanding of people, and men, if she is to escape from underneath the black cloud of her family. A haunting and sophisticated account of the human mind's ability to shut out the world's darkest horrors and flourish at the touch of kindness, The Moon Around Sarah is a finely observed tribute to the strength of the soul.