The Silent Boy

The Silent Boy
Andrew Taylor

From the No. 1 bestselling author of THE AMERICAN BOY comes a brilliant new historical thriller set during the French Revolution. Selected as Historical Novel of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times, and picked as one of Radio 4’s Crime Books of the Year.Paris, 1792. The city is gripped by revolution and the gutters run with blood as thousands lose their heads to the guillotine.Edward Savill, a London merchant, receives word that his estranged wife has been killed in France. Her ten-year-old son, Charles, has been taken by émigré refugees to Charnwood Court, deep in the English countryside.Savill is sent to fetch Charles, only to discover the child is mute. The boy has witnessed unimaginable horrors, but a terrible secret keeps him from saying a word. Locked in a prison of his own mind, his silence is the only thing that will keep him safe.Or so he thinks …

Copyright (#ulink_8cc571b1-8f34-5ed0-b864-b22d425ef159)

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2014

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www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014

Copyright © Andrew Taylor 2014

Cover design layout © HarperCollinsPublishers 2014

Cover photographs © Julian Elliott / Getty Images (street); Henry Steadman (boy)

Andrew Taylor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it, while at times based on historical fact, are the work of the author’s imagination.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007506576

Ebook Edition © AUGUST 2014 ISBN: 9780007506590

Version: 2017-06-02

Dedication (#ulink_92ab23f4-0b4f-5c92-bc53-7e25ee2d6226)

For James

Contents

Cover (#ucd4aac9a-b7bb-5cf9-9ed1-600275540829)

Title Page (#uba31b8b1-21a4-5616-bf58-3c7a5c7dad58)

Copyright (#u60a9c0ad-4659-5506-808e-9f7632ed5fcb)

Dedication (#u198babb3-ae09-5bca-9978-b80bc699c6aa)

Chapter One (#u293c1be6-7b5b-535c-bb33-4b555eb6fbeb)

Chapter Two (#ue584b856-1575-595a-a871-31174c91b277)

Chapter Three (#uc0cf28f4-7083-5a76-9299-76b82adb7090)

Chapter Four (#ube164f6e-11c0-5eb0-90ca-134723d823c5)

Chapter Five (#ua9c284df-0b37-50c9-8b61-8e02b7926333)

Chapter Six (#u1edd55e0-b08c-58c7-9d49-5b362f1b369a)

Chapter Seven (#uf144d6ba-4d73-5f66-a5dd-93a1ec9e3283)

Chapter Eight (#u631d3395-bd6b-5863-aa1e-5878af7a8a0c)

Chapter Nine (#u261ec2e3-4e6a-586e-934f-a8641deeb3e6)

Chapter Ten (#ue805e97f-5631-5d73-a048-95a25e787e48)

Chapter Eleven (#u2ca02816-d5f3-5d2f-b429-cb6e381e27ad)

Chapter Twelve (#ue8590c3d-3611-57aa-b2a5-d237babb2d20)

Chapter Thirteen (#uc5820540-af34-5327-bfd6-5967965c9a2f)

Chapter Fourteen (#u89b8dfd4-077b-55a7-ad00-fc109b8b9db1)

Chapter Fifteen (#u4a13a08b-fd64-512e-8afc-69153e15d950)

Chapter Sixteen (#u80c03a50-b071-55af-ba92-21febc30dd72)

Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)