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Beyond Silence
While away from California and vacationing in Scotland to ease his problems, Andy gets caught up in an unusual experience that seems to be outside the boundaries of time
Mass Market Paperback
First published October 23, 1980
31 people want to read
About the author
Eleanor Cameron
28 books52 followersEleanor Frances Butler Cameron (1912 - 1996) was a Canadian children's author who spent most of her life in California. Born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1912, her family then moved to South Charleston, Ohio when she was 3 years old. Her father farmed and her mother ran a hotel. After three years, they moved to Berkeley, California. Her parents divorced a few years later. At 16, she moved with her mother and stepfather to Los Angeles. She credits her English mother's love of story telling for her inspiration to write and make up stories.
She attended UCLA and the Art Center School of Los Angeles. In 1930, she started working at the Los Angeles Public Library and later worked as a research librarian for the Los Angeles Board of Education and two different advertising companies. She married Ian Cameron, a printmaker and publisher, in 1934 and the couple had a son, David, in 1944.
Her first book came out in 1950, based on her experience as a librarian. It was well received by critics, but didn't sell well. She did not start writing children's books until her son asked him to write one starring him as a character. this resulted in her popular series The Mushroom Planet.
With the success of the Mushroom Planet books, Cameron focused on writing for children. Between 1959 and 1988 she produced 12 additional children's novels, including The Court of the Stone Children (1973) and the semi-autobiographical five book Julia Redfern series (1971–1988). She won the National Book Award for Court of the Stone Children in 1973, and was a runner up for To The Green Mountains in 1979.
In addition to her fiction work, Cameron wrote two books of criticism and reflection on children's literature. The first, The Green and Burning Tree, was released in 1969 and led an increased profile for Cameron in the world of children's literature. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s Cameron worked as a traveling speaker and contributor to publications such as The Horn Book Magazine, Wilson Library Bulletin, and Children's Literature in Education. She was also a member of the founding editorial board for the children's magazine Cricket, which debuted in 1973. In 1972 she and Roald Dahl exchanged barbs across three issues of The Horn Book, a magazine devoted to critical discussions of children's and young adult fiction. Her second book of essays, The Seed and the Vision: On the Writing and Appreciation of Children's Books, came out in 1993. It is her final published book.
From late 1967 until her death Cameron made her home in Pebble Beach, California. She died in hospice in Monterey, California on October 11, 1996 at the age of 84.[
She attended UCLA and the Art Center School of Los Angeles. In 1930, she started working at the Los Angeles Public Library and later worked as a research librarian for the Los Angeles Board of Education and two different advertising companies. She married Ian Cameron, a printmaker and publisher, in 1934 and the couple had a son, David, in 1944.
Her first book came out in 1950, based on her experience as a librarian. It was well received by critics, but didn't sell well. She did not start writing children's books until her son asked him to write one starring him as a character. this resulted in her popular series The Mushroom Planet.
With the success of the Mushroom Planet books, Cameron focused on writing for children. Between 1959 and 1988 she produced 12 additional children's novels, including The Court of the Stone Children (1973) and the semi-autobiographical five book Julia Redfern series (1971–1988). She won the National Book Award for Court of the Stone Children in 1973, and was a runner up for To The Green Mountains in 1979.
In addition to her fiction work, Cameron wrote two books of criticism and reflection on children's literature. The first, The Green and Burning Tree, was released in 1969 and led an increased profile for Cameron in the world of children's literature. Throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s Cameron worked as a traveling speaker and contributor to publications such as The Horn Book Magazine, Wilson Library Bulletin, and Children's Literature in Education. She was also a member of the founding editorial board for the children's magazine Cricket, which debuted in 1973. In 1972 she and Roald Dahl exchanged barbs across three issues of The Horn Book, a magazine devoted to critical discussions of children's and young adult fiction. Her second book of essays, The Seed and the Vision: On the Writing and Appreciation of Children's Books, came out in 1993. It is her final published book.
From late 1967 until her death Cameron made her home in Pebble Beach, California. She died in hospice in Monterey, California on October 11, 1996 at the age of 84.[
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July 26, 2017
This is an atmospheric, melancholy story about a teen boy visiting Scotland with his father. His brother has recently died, the family is crumbling, and he's started hearing voices - vivid conversations - and seeing scenes that he finds engrossing and peaceful. He's at loose ends in Scotland, wandering the countryside and befriending the local bookseller and the couple who run the castle-turned-hotel where he and his father are staying.
The story seems to fit into that type that I read a lot of as a kid - slightly eerie occurances, mysterious events from the past overlapping with our own time, old letters and photos and voices from the past. But while I was curious to see where the story went, there were so many loose ends never tied up, and so many plot strands that added a bit of atmosphere or character but no real plot.
It was a bit like watching an odd foreign film, the kind of moody thing where you're intrigued but never quite sold on the whole set-up, and where the end leaves you in serious need of resolution. At the same time, though, you're admiring the cinematography and acting. Which is all to say that I'm conflicted - slightly admiring, slightly confused, and wishing I could find out what on earth Eleanor Cameron was trying to do with this book.
The story seems to fit into that type that I read a lot of as a kid - slightly eerie occurances, mysterious events from the past overlapping with our own time, old letters and photos and voices from the past. But while I was curious to see where the story went, there were so many loose ends never tied up, and so many plot strands that added a bit of atmosphere or character but no real plot.
It was a bit like watching an odd foreign film, the kind of moody thing where you're intrigued but never quite sold on the whole set-up, and where the end leaves you in serious need of resolution. At the same time, though, you're admiring the cinematography and acting. Which is all to say that I'm conflicted - slightly admiring, slightly confused, and wishing I could find out what on earth Eleanor Cameron was trying to do with this book.
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