Inheritance of Silence

Customer Reviews

2 reviews

• Julie M

  As someone who spends my days working in the legal field, I appreciate stories that don't shy away from life's difficult realities. Inheritance of Silence is one of those books that feels honest from beginning to end. It isn't about flashy plot twists or over-the-top drama. It's about people, relationships, healing, and finding the courage to move forward after life has knocked you down. What stood out to me most was how authentic the characters felt. Their conversations sounded like real people, and their emotions never came across as forced. Chase's journey especially resonated with me because it showed that healing isn't something that happens overnight. It's messy, complicated, and full of setbacks, but it's also possible. John Erik Dunnam writes with a great deal of compassion. He tackles difficult topics with sensitivity while still giving readers hope. I found myself genuinely invested in the characters and wanting the best for them. By the end of the book, I felt like I had walked alongside them through every triumph and heartbreak. I also appreciated that the novel encourages empathy. Even if your life experiences are different from the characters', it's easy to understand their fears, hopes, and desire to be accepted for who they are. That's one of the marks of a talented writer. This is a memorable debut novel that has a lot of heart. If you enjoy character-driven fiction that explores family, identity, resilience, and the importance of finding your voice, I highly recommend Inheritance of Silence. I'll definitely be reading more from John Erik Dunnam in the future.

• Cynthia Nunez- Plante

  This one’s a quiet, emotional queer contemporary about grief and learning to find your voice again. We follow Chase as he moves on from a partner who wasn’t good for him and slowly unpacks how his childhood and parents trained him to stay small and silent. Eli kept silencing him, and Chase really did lose his sense of self-worth while he was with him, so watching him relearn that he doesn’t have to be quiet anymore felt very personal and real.I also loved that he found really good friends and a new partner who helped him heal — it has a gentle found-family vibe that made those uplifting moments land. There are a lot of really good, intimate parts I enjoyed, and the author makes his grief and slow metamorphosis hit; it pulled at my heartstrings and left me more hopeful than I expected. That said, some sections felt a little repetitive and the pacing dragged in places, but I still liked it overall and would recommend it. Reading this as part of my LGBTQ/queer reads, I did most of it on my pink couch with iced coffee — perfect energy for it.

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