A Sign of Her Own set in the world of Sign Language – Sarah Marsh
A Sign of Her Own- Sarah Marsh
A novel which shines a spot light on how deaf people have been treated throughout history. Alexander Graham Bell. best known for inventing the telephone, gave a voice to the many students he coached as part of his research into ‘Visible Speech’. What I found out about him in this novel is amazing.
Children who deaf, either since birth or otherwise, are cast as outsiders here. They are discouraged from using sign language to communicate. This story needed to be told.
Susan Booktrailer x
Boarding Pass Information
Destination : the world of signing
Author guide: Sarah Marsh
Genre: historical, inspired by real events
Food and drink to accompany: sandwiches and cupcakes
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A novel to transport you into the deaf world
BookTrail the locations in A Sign of Her Own
When in Canada, I visited the home of Alexander Graham Bell in Ontario and so when I heard about this book and then met the author at an event, all the stars aligned! This went on my radar immediately.
The locations are not the feature of the novel but rather the deaf world as a whole. This is a story to make you think of how one deaf woman becomes a students of Alexander Graham Bell. The way he teaches her how to speak using his technique called Visible Speech is remarkable. I was happy to get insights into his dream of inventing a device that would transmit the human voice along a wire.
This world clashes with the reality that Ellen becomes somewhat of a victim, a forgotten participant in the advancement of the telephone and other technology. It makes you realise that how technology can help or have a purpose but then that becomes blurred in reality.
I understood a lot more about the deaf and hard of hearing world and although there is a lot of (unnecessary) detail about signing and words, I felt it was important to learn about it. When you realise that children were once discouraged from signing, I welcomed the detail as being a rebuff of no one having listened before.
An important story to tell and one which I found very interesting and thought-provoking indeed.
BookTrail the locations in A Sign of Her Own
Postcard details: Access The BookTrail’s Map of Locations and travel guide here
BookTrail Boarding Pass: A Sign of Her Own
Twitter: @SarahCMarsh
