Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding

A novel set in Romania during the late 1930s and World War II, this book follows Safia a young aristocratic girl and Augustin, a deaf servant boy.

 This book is a very interesting take on World War II and the interpretation which a deaf boy places on it. I enjoyed the gentle but sometimes dark plot very much. Telling the story through the eyes of Augustin is a clever way of highlighting the sometimes incomprehensible politics of war.

 The writing is unremarkable but that doesn't detract from this book which is primarily about the story not the language. An enjoyable and different book about the experiences of residents in occupied countries during the war.