Hear No Evil

A striking and stylish literary page-turner that breathes life into the past, illuminating a fascinating corner of history by revealing its lost voices and contemporary resonance. Smith’s evocative storytelling and willingness to probe the murkier reaches of the human psyche make her a talent to watch! * Zoë Strachan *A fascinating exploration of deafness and human value amid the sights, sounds and smells of urban Scotland in 1817. * Sally Magnusson *I loved Hear No Evil, beautifully written and a real page turner with characters whose company I enjoyed greatly. It evoked the Edinburgh of that time brilliantly and vividly and gave such a wonderful insight into the early quest to understand and give a voice to people who cannot hear. The historical evocation of Edinburgh and the dramatic murder story were both so well done and so rewarding. * Elisabeth Gifford *A compelling and thoughtful exploration of a deaf woman’s struggle for justice in Regency-era Scotland * Rebecca Netley, author of THE WHISTLING *‘Fascinating… gripped me from start to finish’ * Westender Magazine *A richly evocative telling. You can almost smell the reek of the old Edinburgh streets. Feel the brutality and inhumanity of it all… A gentle read that belies its power. A stylish murder mystery illuminating a fascinating corner of history. * C&B News *In Sarah Smith’s debut, Hear No Evil, Robert Kinniburgh, a teacher at Edinburgh’s Deaf and Dumb Institution, is summoned to one of the city’s jails, where an unusual prisoner awaits interrogation. Jean Campbell, a deaf woman, is accused of drowning her child, but communication with her has been impossible. Kinniburgh, who employs a form of sign language, becomes the means by which she can tell her story, and slowly the complex reality of what happened emerges. Based on a case from Scottish legal history, Smith’s novel skilfully combines crime fiction with a woman’s struggle to speak the truth. * The Times *Dramatic and evocative … a stunning debut * Dumfries & Galloway Life *

Sarah Smith is a writer from Glasgow. She has worked as a creative writing tutor, family history researcher and project worker with a number of charities including Deaf Connections where she first came across the story that would go on to inspire Hear No Evil.

In 2019, she was awarded a New Writers Award for Fiction from the Scottish Book Trust and graduated with an MLitt (Distinction) in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow in 2018.

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