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MWSA Review
All is fair and love and war, the familiar saying goes, meaning that what you do to achieve love or to win a war has no rules. The lover is a champion if they win the beloved, and the warrior a hero if they defeat the enemy—no matter how. Emerson Ford‘s What the Silent Say explores the other side of these military and amatory cliches, giving voice to the person who loves but is not fulfilled, and those who do not survive to write the history.
If, one-third of the way into this fine novel, you wonder how it involves war, you can be forgiven. The cover—a lone soldier with head bowed standing in grass beyond which are distant rows of foggy mountains—led you to believe this would a war story, possibly told from some point after the conflict. And the temporal setting of the novel's beginning is 1937, so our knowledge of history tells us we are between two world wars.
Still, to this point, the narrative has focused on two brothers growing up in Florence, South Carolina, and a young girl struggling with the fact that her father abandoned her and left her to live with an embittered mother. The cast of characters does suggest the historical legacy of war: two fathers from the World War One generation insist on a strictness in their households common to military hierarchy. The women in the home knowingly accept this almost unfeeling rigidity, while the children have no resources to resist the male dominance shaping their futures.
Raymond Sellers must follow in his father's business, while his less gifted younger brother Jimmie hopes to find a path his father will approve. Evelyn’s only model for the future is a wife who couldn't keep her husband home. Also, there are subtle hints that the tender, teenage romance of the central couple contains analogs to military engagement. “'One walk is all I ask,'" the older of the Sellers brothers insists to Evelyn. "'If I can’t convince you on the way to your house to give me a chance, you can give me the boot. I promise.' A war played out on her face. The side in his favor did have bigger guns."
It will turn out that comparisons associated with traditionally feminine realms find their way into later descriptions of war: "Raymond trudged behind the scouts, his feet moving as if they were wading through a pool of molasses." When his brother Jimmie becomes a gunner on a bomber, we read: "Finding a downed crew was like trying to find one uncooked grain in a sea of cooked rice."
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Raymond, having gained the rank of second lieutenant at Clemson University, knows he will be called to active duty. And the characterization of the enemy he must face begins the process of hardening necessary to kill: the mandate to take up arms, we read, "started earlier, with their [the Japanese'] torment of the Chinese and any peoples they deemed the weaker…They’d all heard the tales from Japanese prisoner of war camps—stories of unspeakable acts done to those they captured. Europe seemed a safer bet from where Raymond stood, but maybe that was just because it would get him out of the Pacific and away from an enemy he couldn’t understand.”
The novel's account of the young men's military experience reminds us that gender stereotypes contribute to their understanding of the new landscape. Planes and ships are female: "At the runway, the painted girl on the side of their plane greeted him with her perpetual wink.” Later, “Jimmie pulled out a wrinkled and worn copy of The Fighting Yank comic book. Across the front was his brother’s compact script: Be like Yank. Show ’em how it’s done. Love, Raymond. The cover showed Yank, the hero, lounging on Hirohito’s throne with debilitated Japanese soldiers littered about him in distress. Yank had single-handedly brought”
In the combat scenes that follow, there are, of course, some slackers, but the ones at the center of the action demonstrate the selflessness and determination of The Greatest Generation. Similarly, the spirit of Rosie the Riveter inspires (most of) the women left behind to take up unaccustomed burdens and to band together in mutual support The novel is brutal in its depiction of war and compassionate in its account of the emotional strain military families endure when loved ones come home injured or don’t come at all
Love and war are not fair, says Emerson Ford, but both can inspire greatness in individuals and a society.
Review by Michael Lund (July 2025)
Author's Synopsis
Inspired by a remarkable true story and brought to life in cinematic detail, an unforgettable tale of courage, sacrifice, and the unbreakable bonds of family.
Florence, South Carolina 1944: Lieutenant Raymond Sellers bids farewell to his brother Jimmie, the weight of what lies ahead hanging heavy in the air. The brothers have always been inseparable—Raymond, the steady protector, Jimmie, the wild-hearted dreamer. But as Raymond embraces his pregnant wife Evelyn one last time, war is about to test the bonds of family in ways they never imagined.
As a summer storm shakes the windows, Evelyn brings her baby into a world at war. Across the vast Pacific theater, Raymond leads his men through brutal combat while Jimmie fights in the skies. One battle forces Raymond to choose between the family he promised to protect and the brothers he swore to never leave behind. Eighteen years later, a daughter finds a cache of letters in her father's desk and is shocked to find that some acts of courage echo across generations.
From the flowering dogwoods of South Carolina to the chilling trenches of Okinawa, What the Silent Say reminds us that even in our darkest hours, the human spirit has the capacity to endure. If you love anything by Kristin Hannah, Amy Harmon, or were moved by Band of Brothers, this book is a must-read.
Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 388
Word Count: 103766
