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v_nerdbooks 's review for:

The Silent Treatment by Abbie Greaves
4.0

This was such a heartwarming, and also heartbreaking read.

It follows the story of a married couple, Frank and Maggie, seemingly going about their normal day, the book jumps right in to Maggie preparing the evening meal for her and Frank, it then takes a bit more of a sinister turn, when Maggie just sits down at the kitchen table and starts emptying multiple packets of sleeping pills to take. Frank is unaware of what his wife is doing, and he is upstairs playing solitaire on his computer.

You see, even though Maggie and Frank have been happily married for 40 years, for the last 6 months, they haven't spoken to each other, at all!

When the smoke alarm goes off and doesn't stop, Frank goes to investigate, and finds Maggie slumped in her chair, with the packets of pills beside her.
After being rushed to hospital she is placed into a medically induced coma, and Frank is told that she might not pull through and that he should encourage her to wake up by talking to her.

But what do you say to someone that you haven't spoken to for 6 months?

And so Frank begins to tell Maggie the story of them, how they met, and all that has happened in between, but can he eventually tell her why they stopped taking?

We see Maggie and Frank through both of their eyes, and the story they tell is so beautiful, and heartbreaking, and so cleverly written, I was genuinely invested in their marriage.

Please grab this one when you can, you will not be disappointed!

**Many thanks to Netgalley, Cornerstone, and the Author for the digital copy of this book**